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THE^ — 



Political Beginnings 
of Kentucky 

By 

Jo\)r} /Tlasop Brou/p. 



K 




Jx/Mt/}h^l4r^J^>^^^ 



Veiiicv— -riK- Docrr Giilk-ry. 



THE 



POLITICAL BEGINNINGS 



OF 



KENTUCKY. 



A NARRATIVE OF PUBLIC EVENTS 

Bearing on the History of that State up to the Time of its Admis- 
sion INTO the American Union. 



JOHN MASON BROWN. 




LOl'lSVILLE : 
JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY, 

PRINTERS TO THE FILSON CLUB. 






Kb lohn 5*. ^oijton * Company, 

18O0 






TO 

REUBEN T. DURRETT, 

OF LOUISVILLE, KY., 

Lean^ed beyond all olsljers iij the History of Kentucky and 

tl7c West, ttfis paper is inscribed 

by Ijis friend, 

JOHN MASON BROWN. 
Louisville, Kv., 

November, i88g. 



I HE HISTORY of the Commonwealth of Kentucky has 
attracted many pens. Elements of romantic adventure, 
of frontier life, of peril encountered and overcome, of dar- 
ing deeds, crowd the story of its earlier years. Universal 
interest has attached to the names of her pioneers. Their 
conflict was maintained in an une.xplored and scarcely known 
wilderness. Hundreds of miles of forest and mountain sep- 
arated them from the settlements on the frontier of the older 
States from which they went forth, ever westward, to subdue 
and occupy the plains beyond the Alleghanies. The game 
that furnished sport and subsistence to the hunter was 
numerous beyond all former story. It was in kind differ- 
ent from that which the Atlantic slope afforded. Great 
bison and tall elks roamed in countless bands. 

The Indians, whose hunting ground the new country 
was, were of higher type than those whom the colonists 
had encountered at the seaboard. The Shawnees, Wyan- 
dots, Cherokees, and allied tribes had many warriors whose 
sagacity in council was not inferior to their bravery in the 
field. The task before the adventurers in Kentucky was an 
arduous and a noble one. It was theirs to subdue the wil- 
derness to civilization, to dispossess a brave and skillful foe, 



> 



\ 



to overcome privation and danger, to create resources that 
could not else be had, to discipline their own hard and dan- 
gerous frontier life to the model of self-imposed law, and to 
evolve from discouragement, neglect, and danger a new State. 

Their adventures, attacks, escapes, and wars have been 
the theme of poem and romance and history; but their serv- 
ices in the field of political construction, no less prolific of 
results and equally worthy, have scarce been noticed. 

The earlier political history of Kentucky falls naturally 
into two periods. The first terminates with the admission 
of the State into the Federal Union, on the ist of June, 1792, 
and embraces the purely formative epoch. The second period 
extends to the close of the alarms that attended Burr's dem- 
onstrations in the Southwest. Within that epoch (from 1792 
to 1807) are included the organization of executive and leg- 
islative powers, the mission of Power and other Spanish 
emissaries, and their attempts upon -Sebastian, Nicholas, and 
Murray, the ferment that grew out of the .4,lien and Sedi- 
tion laws and excise legislation, the excitement fomented by 
Genet and other French agents, the remodeling of the con- 
stitution in 1799, the acquisition of Louisiana, and the arrest 
and trial of Burr. 

Neither space nor leisure is now available for the proper 
treatment of this second period, for the history of which, 
however, the writer has collected much material. 

It is the design of this paper to trace the political devel- 
opment that marked the history of Kentucky during that 



first period that closed with the estaWishment of state- 
hood and admission to membership in the Union, that 
the memory of the sagacit3^ patience, and forbearance of 
the pioneers may be perpetuated along with their better 
known virtues. Its purpose will be to examine their acts 
and explore their motives in the light of documentary evi- 
dence, much of which has been recendy unearthed, and 
which speaks the true contemporary opinion. The lapse 
of years has cleared the historical atmosphere of many 
clouds engendered by personal rivalries and political antag- 
onisms. It is possible now to cite a responsible contempo- 
rary voucher for almost every important public fact in the 
earlier history of the State. 

To his brethren of the Filson Club the writer wishes 
here to repeat acknowledgments of co-operation and sym- 
pathy in his work. Their constant and interested atten- 
tion, dispassionate examination into the narrated facts, and 
free and well-informed criticisms upon conclusions drawn 
from them, have secured for this paper an accuracy and fair- 
ness that otherwise could not have been hoped for. 



\ 



THE POLITICAL BEGINNINGS 



KENTUCKY. 



The Indian Title. 

An occupation of one hundred and fifty years had not 
sufficed to fully people the Atlantic slope of North America. 
The inhabitants who had pitched their first settlements along 
the tide-water and the greater rivers were slow to venture 
back westward to the Appalachian Mountains. They ac- 
cepted the boundary that nature had raised, and curbed their 
enterprise within its limits. Beyond the great divide tliat 
turned the waters another way lay a country unexplored and 
as yet uncoveted. The right of discovery under which the 
seaboard was held extended, as was claimed, westward to the 
further ocean; but how far this was, or what the claim em- 
braced, few cared and none knew. 

Within the bounds of Virginia's royal charter, directly to 
the west, and yet separated from the extremest frontier by 
many miles of impassable mountains, lay the territory now 
known as Kentucky. 



lO The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

It pushed forward into the wilderness like a huge wedge, 
resting upon Virginia's western line as its base. Its apex 
reached the Mississippi; its axis was the mid line of the 
coming nation. Even in savage times it divided the perma- 
nent possessions of northern and southern Indians. It was 
the key of all the country between the Alleghanies and the 
Mississippi. 

The ownership of this land, fertile and abounding in game 
beyond all others, was disputed by powerful tribes and alli- 
ances. The Cherokees claimed it in great part; the Six 
Nations asserted that it was entirely theirs. The title was 
one of arms. The better claim, at least by conquest and 
use as their hunting ground, seems to have been with the 
Six Nations. It is from the language of the Iroquois that 
the name of Kentucky is derived, and from the language of 
their allied tribes, the Delawares and the Shawnees, comes 
that other name, '' Kiittaawaa''' 'Hhe great wilderness" used by 
early explorers interchangeably with the Iroquois "Kentake,'' 
'' the place of the meadows" ''the Imnting grounds."' 

'John Jolinston, long years resident among the Shawnees as their agent, asserts 
that the word "Kentucky" is Shawnee, signifying "At the head of the river" {Archao- 
logia Americana, Vol. I, p. 299), and Dr. D. G. Brinton seems half inclined to attach 
weight to this explanation. In a letter of 12th August, 18S5, commenting upon John- 
ston's explanation, he writes: "The terminal is no doubt 'aki,' meaning 'land,' 'place,' 
but I am not able to analyze the root word. There is an Algonkin root, 'kan ' or 'ianat,' 
meaning 'clear,' 'pure,' and hence in Johnston's sense the word would be 'the place of 
clear, pure, or spring water,' as contradistinguished from the muddy character of the 
rivers near their outlets." The derivation does not seem sound or admissible. In the 
Iroquois tongue "kenta" (abbreviation of "kehenta") signifies "meadow," "prairie," and 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 1 

The title of the Six Nations was asserted and vindicated by 
them with all the confidence of a dominant people. Their 
war parties went westward to the Wabash, meeting no ade- 
quate resistance. Their hunters crossed the Ohio and roamed 
beyond the Cumberland, and westward to the Tennessee. 
Within the "Blue Grass" of Kentucky their allies, the Shaw- 
nees, built their towns, and from the Scioto to Chickamauga 
extended the great Warriors' Path, their military road against 
the Cherokees. The validity of the title claimed by the Six 

"^f"is the locative particle meaning "place," '■land." Tlie combination " kenta-ke" 
would indicate "the meadow land" and in a secondary sense the "hunting land" or 
"hunting grounds " as it was in this luxuriant country of blue grass and tender cane 
that the best and most abundant game was found. The learned Father Cuoq concurs 
in this derivation of the word Kentucky, though he does not proceed to the secondary 
meaning. (Lexiqtie Iroquoise, mi voee KENTA.) The word " kcnta" modified by the Mo- 
hawk tribal dialect into "Genii" is found in the list of the towns of the Wolf clan, 
where "Gentiyo" is rendered "Beautiful Plain." (Hale, Iroquois Book of Rites, iiS, sec. 
5.) The Algonkin name of Kentucky was doubtless "kutaiva" very accurately trans- 
lated as "the great wilderness." Its derivation seems to be from "kitchi" otherwise "kit," 
meaning "great," and "tatua," "space," "interval," "vacancy," or, secondarily, "wilder- 
■ness" (Consult Ctioq, Lexiqite Algonquine.) The Shawnees, who greatly affected the 
broad sound oi a, used the word " kitt-taa-waa" which the Delawares, also of Algonkin 
stock, pronounced less broadly "kutawa." Dr. Brinton notes the name "kittuiva," other- 
wise "kuttoowaiiw," as that given by the Delawares to the Cherokees, adding the remark, 
"This word I suppose to be derived from the prefix 'kit,' 'great,' and the root ' tawa' 
(Cree, yette, tatoa), ' to open,' whence ' taiuatawik,' 'an open,' i.e., 'an uninhabited place,' 
' a ■wilderness' (Zeisberger)." (Brinton, The Lenape, 16,) The suffix a/z, meaning people, 
added to kittawa made the word kittawawi, the name given by the Delawares to the 
Cherokees as "the people living in the great wilderness." This accords with the fact that 
the territory of Kentucky was so destitute of fixed towns of Indians that the locality 
of only two Shawnee settlements can certainly be identified. One was situated at what 
is now called the Indian Old Fields, on Lulbegrud Creek, in Clark County, whence 
Chattahecassa (Blackhoof) went to fight at Braddock's defeat, and which place he re- 
visited in 1816. [Letter of Joseph Ficklin to Schoolcraft, Schoolcraft's Indian 'J'riies,Vo\. I, 
p. 300.) The other was opposite the mouth of the Scioto River in 1756. (Dr. Tiiomas 
Walker, Calendar Virginia State Papers, Vol. I, p. 298.) A tradition survives that the 
Cherokees had a town on the lower waters of the Cumberland, but it had disappeared 



1 2 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Nations and the counter- right of the Cherokees became 
questions of serious pubHc importance at several junctures. 
The first foundation of Virginia's claim to western terri- 
tory lay, of course, in the charter of 1609, without regard to 
any Indian rights that might interfere with its magnificent 
grants. But as the thoughts of enterprising men were di- 
rected westward, the conflict of personal interest made them 
keenly alive to all that could confirm their pretensions. The 
validity of the title by conquest, claimed by the Six Nations, 
enlisted one of Dr. Franklin's ablest efforts in its support. 

before that region was explored by tlie whites. Hon. Ch.Trles Anderson, of Eddyville, 
Ky., has conjecturally located it at or near his plantation of " Kutauia." The Chero- 
kees, in 1755, had an "out town," which they called ^- Kilt,nu:x" [Fifth Report Ethno- 
logical Bureau, Smthsoiiian Institute, p. 14.5), hiU there is no clue to its exact location. 
The old tribal name of the Cherokees appeared again at the beginning of the late civil 
war. Tlieir predominant senliinent was in favor of the Sonthern Coiifeileracy. but an 
opposing party, secretly organized, ailhered to the United Stales. Its meniber^hip "was 
composed principally of full blood Cherokees, and they termed themselves •hi-tn--vlia,' 
a name by which the Cherokees were said to have lieen known in their ancient confed- 
erations with other Indian tribes." {A'ovee, i]U0ti7tg Butler, Fifth Ethnological Report, . 
Smithsonian Institute, 325.1 Much unfounded sentiment and turgid rhetoric has arisen 
from the mistaken notion that the word Kentucky sIkjuUI be interpreted "The Dark 
and Bloody Ground." No such translation is warranted. The term "Dark and Bloody 
Ground" had its origin in the warning given by Dr ggiiig Canoe to Henderson at 
Watauga, in 1775, that the new country was "the bloody ground, and would be dark 
and difficult to settle." [Depos'tion of Samuel H'ihon, Virginia Calendar State Papers, 
Vol. I, p. 283.) It seems clear that two Indian names were thus affixed to the great 
hunting grounds south of the Ohio — one being "A'en-ta-he," signifying in the Iroquois 
language "The Hunting Grounds;" the other, '•A'u:-ta-tia,'' meaning, in Algonkin, 
"The Great Wilderness." It seems probable that the latter term and its signification — 
"the great open space" — had some connection with the existence of the so-called "Bar- 
rens" or treeless areas that lay to the west of Salt River, and upon which countle.ss 
buffalo and other game grazed Prof. Shaler thinks that these " Barrens " remained 
destitute of timber because of the fires kindled by hunting parties, and by which the 
young shoots were destroyed. A glance at the "unexplored regions" on Barker's 
map (of 1793) lends force to Prof. Shaler's suggestion. 



The Political Beginnings of Keyitucky. 1 3 

He argued successfully before the Privy Council that the 
pretensions of a Cherokee claim were baseless; that the 
treaty which Stuart had concluded with that tribe in 1768 
was a nullity ; that the early writers, like Pownall, had long 
before asserted " the right of the Five Nation Confederacy 
to the hunting lands of Ohio, Tecucksuchrondite, and Scan- 
iaderiada by the conquest they made in subduing the Shao- 
anoes, Delawares (as we call them), Twightees, and Oilinois;" 
and that Evans, the cartographer, stated that " the Shawnees, 
who were formerly one of the most considerable nations ot 
those parts of America, whose seat extended from Kentucky 
southwestvvard to the Mississippi, have been subdued by the 
confederates (or Six Nations), and the country since become 
their property. No nation held out with greater resolution 
and bravery; and although they have been scattered in all 
parts for a while, they are again collected on the Ohio under 
the dominion of the confederates." 

The argument of Dr. Franklin, made in 1772, was chiefly 
directed to the title of the Six Nations, because, by the treaty 
of Fort Stanwix, of 1768, the lands which he and his associ- 
ates asked in grant had been relinquished by the Indians to 
the Crown." The Walpole grant, which Franklin carried 
triumphantly through the Privy Council over Lord Hills- 
borough's opposition, was abandoned as the revolutionary 

' Franklin's Works, Vol. IV, p. 302, and following. 



14 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

troubles thickened. Its story must, however, always be one 
of interest. It was the first attempt at distinctively proprie- 
tary grant west of the Alleghany Mountains. It substituted 
defined boundaries for the mere vagaries of the old charter 
grants. Its 2,400,000 acres were to be included within bound- 
aries that alarmed Washington, and called forth his warning 
and remonstrance.' It embraced that part of Kentucky east 
of a line connecting the mouth of the Scioto and Ouasioto 
(Cumberland) Gap, and all of Virginia west of the Allegha- 
nies. The Ohio was its northern line, and it extended south- 
ward to the latitude of North Carolina. 

The Cherokee claim assumed importance when Stuart, in 
1768, concluded his treaty with the chiefs of that people. 
By this treaty it was agreed between Stuart, as His Majesty's 
Superintendent of Southern Indian affairs, and the Chero- 
kees, claiming to own the country south of the Ohio, that the 
western boundary of Virginia should be defined as "extend- 
ing from the point where the northern line of North Carolina 
intersects the Cherokee hunting grounds, about thirty-six 
miles east of Long Island in the Holston River, and thence 
extending in a direct course north by east to Chiswell's mine 
on the east bank of the Kanawha River, and thence down 
that stream to its junction with the Ohio."' 

' \VasIii)iyton to Lord Botetourt, 15th April, 1770. Washington's Writings, Vol. 

n, P-355- 

^Ramsay's History of Temiessee, 77. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 5 

The effect of this, if title in the Cherokees were admitted, 
was to limit Virginia by the Kanawha as a western boundary 
and destroy the vast claim that rested on the charter of 1609. 
The Cherokee treaty was concluded by Stuart' on the 14th 
October, 1768, at Hard Labor, in South Carolina; but already 
another conference was gathering at Fort Stanwix (now Utica, 
N. Y.), where, on the 5th November, was concluded that fam- 
ous cession made by the Six Nations to the British Crown. ^ 

'This Stewart or Stuart has sometimes been confounded with Boone's companion 
in the wilderness— the first white man Itilled in Kentucky. He was the grandfather of 
the well-known John Ross, Head Chief of the Cherokees. (Royce, Fifth Ethnological 
Report, Smithsonian Institute, 348, note.) 

^The Treaty of Fort Stanwix has well been denominated "the corner-stone of the 
political relations between the citizens of the United States immediately south of the 
Ohio and the Indians." It was perhaps suggested by Croghan, the deputy agent of 
Sir William Johnson, after his expedition of 1765 from Fort Pitt by way of the Ohio 
and the Wabash to Detroit and Niagara. Or, on the other hand, the journey of Croghan 
may have been one of observation, preparatory to the treaty negotiations contemplated 
by Sir William. The list of tribes and their military strength, given by Croghan, indi- 
cates no occupation of Kentucky. {Butler, History of Kentucky, 470, ed. 1836.) This 
was an all-important fact for the treaty. The assemblage at Fort Stanwix was one of 
unusual dignity for the times, and especially for so remote a station. There were pre.sent_ 
as the report of the council shows. Sir William Johnson, His Majesty's Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs; His Excellency William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey; Dr. T homas 
Walker, representing the colony of Virginia as Commissioner; Hon. Frederick Smith, 
Chief Justice of New Jersey; Richard Peters and James Tilghman, members of the 
Council of Pennsylvania; and George Croghan and Daniel Claus, Deputy Agents of 
Indian Affairs. Three thousand two hundred warriors of the various tribes of the Six 
Nations attended, as did all the principal chiefs of the confederation. The narrative 
of the conference and text of the treaty will be found in the appendix to Butler (Butler, 
History of Kentucky, p. 472, and following), from which will be feeen (what is of interest 
from the present point of view) that the movement for the cession and treaty was de- 
liberate on all sides. The Speaker of Assembly and Committee of Correspondence of 
Pennsylvania instructed Dr. Franklin, the colonial agent at London, the Assembly of 
Virginia considered the subject, the Indians notified the King's agents that a purchase 
ought to be made to avoid trouble with unauthorized .settlers, and the royal command 
to call the council was received by Sir William Johnson early in 1768. 



1 6 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The treaty negotiated by Stuart was not attended with the 
ceremonies, the concourse of numbers, or the dignity of par- 
ticipants distinguishing that which Sir William Johnson con- 
cluded with the Six Nations. Nor did it bind so many and so 
formidable warriors. It alarmed the frontiersmen by including 
many settlements within territory that it assumed to recognize 
as belonging to the Cherokees, and guaranteed to them in 
peaceable possession. It imposed an abrupt boundary upon the 
colony of Virginia and forbade her westward growth. It was 
natural that the Cherokee treaty should excite displeasure and 
arouse opposition. And with the opposition to treaty bound- 
ary came in easy company a denial of the Cherokee title. That 
denial came with vigorous utterance from Virginia and her peo- 
ple. It was indirectly supported by the colonial governments 
that had joined with Virginia in negotiating the treaty of Fort 
Stanwix; for the title ceded by the Six Nations was incompat- 
ible with the Cherokee claim. The Indian signatories at Fort 
Stanwix were the great chiefs of the Six Confederated Nations, 
the Mohawks, the Tuscaroras, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the 
Cayugas, and the Senecas. The head men of the Delawares and 
Shawnees assented, but were not permitted to sign the treaty 
because, though recognized as friends and allies, they had been 
conquered, and owed all to the grace of the Iroquois league.' 

' The chiefs of the Shawnees and Delawares are named in the preliminaries of the 
treaty, but are not signatories. Their relation to the dominant tribes was very plainly 
put by the Onondaga Chief, Canassateego, in the council of 1 742. The Delawares had 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. \ f 

It was over this sense of tribal humiliation that Tecumseh 
brooded forty years later. One of the chief hopes of his 
scheme of confederation was to place the Shawnees at the 
head of a great alliance in the West that should eclipse the 
power and the fame of the arrogant Six Nations.' 

There was no political or personal interest to support the 
pretensions of Stuart's treaty ; its only purpose seems to have 
been to check violations of the royal proclamation of 1763, 

sold certain lands to colonists and attempted to repudiate the bargain. After censuring 
their bad faith, Canassateego thus reproved the Delawares for their presumption; "But 
how came you to take upon you to sell land at all ? We conquered you ; we made 
women of you. You know you are women, and can no more sell land than women. 
Nor is it fit you should have the power of selling lands, since you would abuse it. This 
land that you claim is gone thro' your guts; you have been furnished with clnathes, 
meat, and drink by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again, like children, 
as you are. But what makes you sell land in the dark? l)id you ever tell us that you 
had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even the value of a pipe-shank, 
from you for it? You have told us a blind story, that you sent a messenger to us to 
inform us of the sale; but he never came amongst us, nor we never heard any thing 

about it And for all these reasons we charge you to remove instantly. We 

don't give you the liberty to think about it We therefore assign you to two 

places to go, either to Wyomen or Shamokin. You may go to either of these places, 
and then we shall have you more under our eye, and shall see how you behave. Do n't 
deliberate, but remove away, and take this belt of wampum." [Cohlen, Hislory of the 
Five Nations, Vol. II, p. 36.) Mr. Hale justly remarks that this imperious allocution, 
which he somewhat softens in his quotation, shows plainly enough the relation in 
which the two communities stood to one another. (Hale, Iroquois Book of Kites, 93,94.) 
'The reflective and original cast of Tecumseh's mind has often been commented 
upon. He went through a (real or simulated) profound religious experience, and im- 
pressed his views very earnestly upon his tribe. On 23d March, 1807, three Shakers 
from Turtle Creek (Ohio), visiting a Shawnee village to inquire into a reported religious 
movement, found "a large frame house, about 150 by 34 feet in size, surrounded 
with 50 or 60 smoking cottages." The "big house" was used to "worship the Great 
Spirit," and the leading men were " Laluelseeka and Tekumtha" (Tecumseh). The 
Shakers were amazed to find that the Indians had a well defin<;d creed, based, as they 
claimed, on direct revelation, and quite similar to the religious views of their own 
society. McNemar, the Shaker elder at Turtle Creek, formerly a Presbyterian minister, 

3 



1 8 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

forbidding acquisitions of lands from Indians by private treaty 
or purchase. The poHcy of extinguishing the Indian claim 
by vesting title in the sovereign, and thus compelling the cit- 
izen to acquire ownership through allegiance, was sufficiently 
protected by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, and all governmental 
influence was thrown into the scale for its validity. 

Thus it was determined in 1768 that the Indian title to 
the territory of Kentucky, as far westward as the Tennessee 
River at least, was in the Six Nations, and that it devolved 
by treaty upon the King of Great Britain. And the treaty 
of Fort Stanwix, taken together with the proclamation of 
1763,' made it impossible to acquire lands within the great 
western area save by grant derived directly or mediately from 
the Crown. 

While the disregard into which Stuart's treaty thus fell 
was fortunate for Virginia, in that the threatened western 

gives a very full account of the origin of this religious movement among the Indians, 
and of their theological notions He illustrates their points of belief by quotations 
from dialogues with them. [McA'emar^s Kentucky Revival, etc.. Ill, and following.) 
Tecumseh had no celebrity at the time of McNemar's writing, and the account can not 
be suspected of being overdrawn for the purpose of introducing a famous character. 
McNeiiiar spells Tecumseh's name according to the true Shawnee pronunciation, which 
always converted the sibilant s into th by lisping. The religious ferment of the Shaw- 
nees has generally been considered as part of the plan of Tecumseh and his brother 
The Prophet, to establish their influence. The controversy between Col. James Smith 
and McNemar on that point is curious, and the publications very rare. 

'■ This proclamation may be found printed as an appendix to Dr. Franklin's argu- 
ment on the Walpole grant. (Franklin's Works, Vol. IV, p. 374.) The Kentucky land 
titles, earlier than such Virginia grants as postdate 1776, are nearly if not quite all 
based upon warrants authorized by the royal proclamation of 1763, to be issued to sol- 
diers in the North American wars. 



The Poiitical Beginnins^s of Kcnhicky. 19 

boundary of the Kanawha was abandoned, the adoption of 
the treaty of Fort Stanwix brought embarrassments. It was 
soon asserted that Virginia had no title westward of the 
Alleghany range, because the cession by the Six Nations 
was (as contended) a new and original title in the King, 
incompatible with the pretensions of Virginia to the terri- 
tory which her charter boundary would include It was thus 
that Franklin, in his argument before the Privy Council in 
1772,' ingeniously established the royal title from the Iro- 
quois and checked Virginia with a mountain boundary, find- 
ing a location as well as a title for the Walpole grant. 

The original boundaries granted to Virginia were cer- 
tainly declared in ignorance of what would be their gigantic 
extent, but it can hardly be contended that they were impos- 
sible of ascertainment or application. There were well- 
defined beginning points on the Atlantic coast; the courses 
of the lines to the north and south were unmistakably indi- 
cated, and the limit of the grant to the west was the sea. 
The royal grantor declared : 

"And we do also of our special Grace, certain knowledge and mere 
Motion, give, grant, and confirm unto the said Treasurer and Cunipany, 
and their successors, under the Reservations, Limitations, and Declarations 
hereinafter expressed, all those Lands, Countries, and Territories situate, 
lying, and being in that part of America called Virginia, from the Point of 

^Franklin's Works, Vol. IV, p. 324, and following. 



20 Tlie Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Lind cnlled Cape or Point Comfort all along the Sea Coast to the North- 
ward two hundred miles; and from s.iid Point of Cape Comfort all along 
the sea coast to the southward two hundred miles; and all that space and 
Circuit of Land lying from the Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into 
the Land throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest; and also all 
the Islands lying within one hundred miles along the Coast of both Seas, 
of the Precinct aforesaid : Together with all the Soils, Grounds, Havens, 
and Ports, Mines, as well Royal Mines of Gold and Silver, as other 
Minerals, Pearls, and precious Stones, Quarries, Woods, Rivers, Waters, 
Fishings, Commodities, Jurisdictions, Royalties, Privileges, Franchises, and 
Preheminences within the said Territories, and the Precincts thereof what- 
soever ; and thereto and thereabouts, both by Sea and Land, being in any 
sort belonging or appertaining, and which We by our Letters Patents may 
or can grant, in as ample Manner and Sort as our noble Progenitors have 
heretofore granted to any Company, Body Politic or Corporate, or to any 
Adventurer or Adventurers, Undertaker or Undertakers, of any Discover- 
ies, Plantation or Traffic of, in, or unto any Foreign Parts wh.itsoever, and 
in as large and ample Manner as if the same were herein particularly men- 
tioned and expressed: To have and to hold," etc' 



Of this grant it has well been observed' that all the con- 
ditions can be satisfied only by extending from a point two 
hundred miles south of Point Comfort a line due west to 
the Pacific, and, from a point equally distant and to the 
north of Point Comfort, another line stretching northwest 
to the Pacific. Between these lines on the north and south 
and the ocean limits on the cast and west was the chartered 

' For the charter of the London Compnny see i'ocne's Constitutions and Charters, 
Government Press, 1878, Vol. II, p. 1897. 
^Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, p. 75. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 2 1 

area of Virginia. The divergence of the inclosing bound- 
aries spreading at an angle of forty-five degrees would have 
included a Pacific coast line from the vicinity of Monterey 
to the snows of Alaska. 

Spanish occupation, and the treaty of 1763, made it im- 
possible for Virginia to assert (as she came to the status of 
a revolutionary State) territorial claims west of the Missis- 
sippi. But never was her claim abated short of the great 
river.' Jefferson, more than any, appreciated the paper 
title which the charter of 1609 gave, and his far-sighted 
comprehension urged George Rogers Clark from the Falls 
of the Ohio into the northwest, that actual occupation at 
the close of the Revolution might secure to the new nation 
territory for new commonwealths. His broad intelligence 
kept steadily in mind that divergent line toward the north- 
west for nearly thirty years longer, until, by the purchase 
from France of the Louisiana territory, the old Spanish title 
to the trans-Mississippi was extinguished, and Great Britain 
and the United States were left sole owners of all above the 
Gulf of Mexico. Then once more he started exploration on 
the northwest line, dispatching Lewis and Clark up the Mis- 

'The 7th article of the treaty of 1763, between France, Great Britain, and Spain, 
fixed the boundary line between Spain and Great Britain as to their North American 
possessions, by tlie current of the Mississippi, "nne ligne tirie au milieu dii fleuve 
Mississippi, depuis sa naissance jusqu'a la riviere d'Iberville, et, de 14, par une ligne 
tiree au milieu du cette riviere et des lacs Maurepas et Poncliartrain, jusqu'a la mer." 
{MarUns, Recueil ties Traites, etc., Vol. I, p. 32, ed. of 1846.) 



2 2 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

soLiri and beyond the Rocky Mountains, enabling his country- 
men to claim Oregon by joint title of grant and occupation. 

The charter-title thus held by the colony of Virginia con- 
cerns the present inquiry only so far as it is connected with 
the development of Kentucky. During tlie interval between 
Boone's first visit to Kentucky, in 1769, and the close of 
the Revolutionary War, only one occasion called for the asser- 
tion of the sovereign title held by Virginia over Kentucky 
soil. 

The King had granted, in 1609, and had perfected the 
original title, based on the right of discovery by purchase 
from the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix. It was very much a 
case of buying in the outstanding claim of an annoying 
neighbor. The public men of Virginia must have regarded 
the treaty of Fort Stanwix as confirming, to the extent of 
its cession, the ancient charter grant. Yet they must have 
appreciated the argument thus put into the hands of such 
as might dispute Virginia's right to the territory north of 
the Ohio. It was forcibly contended in after years that the 
treaty of Fort Stanwix. in 1768, operated as a resumption 
by the Crown of all the grant of 1609 that lay west and 
north of the treaty line.' But the urgency of the political 

'This point was pressed by the counsel for G.irncr, indicted in Virginia for the 
offense of assisting slaves to escape. He was seized by Virginia officers on the north 
bank of the Ohio River, between high- and low-water mark. The case is reported in 

3 Grattan, Virginia Reports, 655. 



The Political Beginnings of Kcnhicky. 23 

situation demanded an acceptance of what was procurable; 
for Stuart's treaty with the Cherokees threatened the barrier 
of an Indian title, solemnly agreed and guaranteed, which 
would bar all expansion toward the west. Already Orange 
County has been constituted by colonial act, in 1734, with a 
boundary to "the utmost limits of Virginia,"' and from it, in 
1738, Augusta County has been formed, extending beyond 
the mountains "to the utmost limits of Virginia."' Bote- 
tourt had been carved from Augusta in 1769,^ and from it 
in turn was taken Fincastle in 1772.^ Kentucky County 
was erected in 1776 by the partition of Fincastle, under one 
of the earliest acts of the first legislative assembly of the 
independent State of Virginia. 

To a sequence of political acts manifesting sovereignty, 
Virginia added at the close of the Revolution the proud claim 
that she, unaided, had subdued and held the Northwest.^ 

The Continental Congress acquiesced in a theory that 
quite confirmed Virginia's claim. Its committee reported 

' 4 Hening, S/atutes at Large, 450. 

° 5 Hehing, Statutes at Large, 79. 

3 S Hening, Stattites at Large, 396. 

■• 8 Hening, Statutes at Large, 600. 

5The sovereignty of Virginia over the Northwest, and her power to declare bound- 
ary, in cession of that territory, was discussed and established by Chief Ju-tice Marshall, 
in Handley's Lessee v. Anthony, 5 Wheaton, 374, where the boundary of Kentucky is 
judicially settled as being low-water mark on the north side of the Ohio River. The 
same conclusion as to the river boundary of Virginia was reached by the General Court 
of that State in Garner's Case, 3 Grattan, 635. The latter case was one where the ma- 
jority of the court, led by Robertson and Lomax, rose, with noble tranquility of judg- 



24 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

in January, 1782, that the States, considered as independent 
sovereignties, had severally succeeded to those limits and 
boundaries which belonged to them as colonies, and had 
become entitled to all the territorial rights that the colonial 
charters conferred." 

Henderson's Pupehase. 

But in the mean time the question of political authority 
had been distinctly presented upon the soil of Kentucky. 

The King's proclamation of 1763 (among its other pro- 
visions) strictly prohibited all purchases of lands by private 
persons from any Indian tribes. It had come to the general 
knowledge of the country, and especially to the men of the 
frontier, because of the liberal patents of land that it author- 
ized to be issued to soldiers in the former French and Indian 
wars. Almost all the adventurous spirits of the border were 
embraced in this category, and interested in the grants which 
the proclamation made. Its terms were well known.' 

ment, above the irritation that seems to have disturbed some of the Judges. Garner 
and others, citizens of Ohio, had met and assisted certain fugitive slaves as they crossed 
the river, and had been arrested in the act. The river was at medium stage, and they 
were therefore above the low-water mark. It was held that they were not within the 
jurisdiction of Virginia, and the court directed an acquittal. The argument of Mr. 
Vinton, counsel for Garner, was very full upon the history of the Virginia title. It is 
imperfectly reported. 

^ Secret Journals of Congress, Vol. Ill, p. 151. 

"The royal proclamation of 1763 may be found in 7 Henim;, Slaitites at Large, 663. 
It is also printed in Franklin's Works, Vol. IV, p. 374, as already noted. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 25 

Richard Henderson, an influential, able, and wealthy citi- 
zen of North Carolina, enlisted a number of his friends in 
the tempting enterprise of securing Indian lands west of the 
mountains. His acquaintance with Boone doubtless directed 
his attention to the lands in Kentucky, and the former haunts 
of the old pioneer on the banks of the Kentucky River were 
included in the grant that Henderson secured. After a pre- 
liminary journey to the Indian country, in which he prepared 
the minds of the leading chiefs for his plan, Henderson 
met a great council of the principal chiefs and warriors of 
the Cherokees at the Sycamore Shoals, on the Watauga 
River.' As many as twelve hundred Indians are said to 
have been present at the treaty, and ten thousand pounds 
sterling in value of goods was paid by Henderson and his 
associates.^ The lands granted were thus described in the 
formal and tediously-lengthened deed which Henderson pre- 
sented for the signatures of the three great chiefs, Oconis- 
toto (The King), Attacullacullah (Little Carpenter), and Sav- 
onooko (Raven Warrior): 

" Beginning on the said Ohio River at the mouth of Kentucky, Chenoca, 
or what by the EngUsh is called Louisa River; from thence running up said 
river and the most northwardly branch of the same to the head spring 
thereof; thence a southeast course to the top ridge of Powell's Mountain ; 
thence westwardly along the ridge of said mountain unto a point from which 

' Wautauga in the Cherokee language signifies " River of Islands." 

" Kainsay, History of Tennessee, 117; Moitetle, Valley of Mississippi, Vol. I, p. 3S9. 

4 



26 The Political Beginnings of Kenhccky. 

a northwest course ■will hit or strike the head spring of the most south- 
wardly brandi of the Cumberland River; thence down the said river, 
including all its waters, to the Ohio River; thence up the said river as it 
meanders to the beginning."' 

This conveyance, though made to Henderson, Hart, Wil- 
liams, and their associates by individual description, was to 
be enjoyed by them in a corporate capacity as ''Proprietors 
of the Colony of Transylvania^' and they lost no time in 
entering upon their new possessions. The treaty was no 
sooner signed, on 17th March, 1775, than Boone was dis- 
patched with a score of expert woodmen to mark and clear 
a trail to the banks of the Kentucky, where the chief office 
of the new land company was to be located. He made such 
speed, in spite of Indian attacks and the loss of one fourth 
of his force, that he commenced on the ist April the erec- 
tion of the "Station" at Boonesborough. The quadrangle of 
cabins was completed by the ist June; but before that time 
Henderson and certain of his associates had arrived, hunters 
and land-seekers had congregated in some numbers, and the 
machinery of a colonial government had been devised and 
put in motion. 

The scheme of Henderson was the last appearance on 
American soil of the old idea of government by lords pro- 
prietors. It was too late for success, and could hardly have 

'The deed of conveyance is given in full by Butler, History of Kentucky (second 
edition), p. 503. 



The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 2 7 

maintained itself had no opposition been shown by the 
authorities of Virginia. Its career was brief and its history 
very curious, and totally unlike that of any American com- 
munity since the original colonial grants. 

The proprietors were so energetic that they issued a call 
for an election of delegates, caused the elections to be had, 
and assembled the chosen representatives at Boonesborough 
on the 23d May, 1775. 

The record of these proceedings has been preserved and 
published,' as has also a diary kept by Henderson.^ 

It is to the credit of the American pioneer that his first 
unaided essay in the organization of a community under 
laws of their own making should have been pursued with 
the decorum and orderly regularity that marked the proceed- 
ings of the assemblage called by the Transylvania proprie- 
tors. Their journal begins thus: 



^^ Journal of the Proceedings of /he House of Delegates or Eepresentatives of the 
Colony of Transylvania, begun on Tuesday, the 2-^d of A/av, in the year of 
our Lord Christ 1775, and in the fifteenth of the reign of his Majesty, King 
of Great Britain. 

"Tlie proprietors of said colony having called and required an election 
of Delegates or Representatives to be made I'or the purpose of legislation, 
or making and ordaining laws and regulations for the future conduct of the 

^Butter, History of Kntiiclzv (second edition), pp. 506-515. 

^ Col/iiis' History of K,iitiicJ;\, Vol. II, p. 498. and following. In tlie collection of 
R. T. Durrett is a manuscript copy of the journal of Col. Henderson, and of the rec- 
ords of the Transylvania Colony, and indeed of all the papers connected with this 
matter. These are the only full copies known to the writer. 



28 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

inhabitants thereof, that is to say, for the town of Boonesborough six mem- 
bers, for Harrodsburg tliree, for the Boiling Spring Settlement four, for the 
town of St. Asaph four, and appointed their meeting for tlie purpose afore- 
said on the aforesaid 23d of May, Anno Domini 1775. 

" It being certified to us here this day by the Secretary that the fol- 
lowing persons weie returned as duly elected for the several towns and 
settlements, to-wit: . . . The House unanimously chose Colonel Thomas 
Slaughter, Chairman, and Matthew Jouett, Clerk, and after divine service 
was performed by the Rev. John Lythe, the House waited on the proprie- 
tors and acquainted them that they had chosen Mr. Thomas Slaughter Chair- 
man, and Matthew Jouett Clerk, of which they approved; and Colonel 
Richard Henderson, in behalf of himself and the rest of the proprietors, 
opened the convention with a speech, a copy of which, to prevent mistakes, 
the chairman procured." 



The convention that thus inaugurated its legislative labors 
comprised several men who bore an important part in the 
later history of the West. Daniel Boone and his brother, 
Squire Boone, together with Richard Callaway, were of the 
representation of Boonesborough. John Lythe (an ordained 
Episcopal clergyman) and James Douglass sat for Harrods- 
burg, James Harrod for Boiling Spring Settlement, and John 
Todd (afterward Governor of the Illinois, and killed at the 
Blue Licks), with John Floyd, represented the group of set- 
tlers that Ben Logan had collected at St. Asaph (now Stan- 
ford). 

The delegation was an ample one for so small a constitu- 
ency; for, counting the company that Henderson brought 



The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 29 

with him, there were but sixty-five riflemen at Boonesbor- 
ough, and the total population of Kentucky at the time has 
been estimated as not exceeding two hundred and thirty 
men." There was not a white female within the territory." 

The preamble of their proceedings might be supposed to 
indicate harmony between the influential pioneers who were 
delegates and the Transylvania proprietors, and an acquies- 
cence in thfe title as derived from the Cherokees. 

The ceremonious attendance of the body of delegates 
upon Col. Henderson, as the representative of the proprie- 
tors, and his condescending approval of their choice for 
chairman and clerk, smacked of ancient colonial usage, and 
it can hardly be doubted that Henderson and his associates 
contemplated the establishment of a proprietary government 
as nearly as possible on the model of those existing by royal 
grant. 

Their serious scheme was to dispose of their lands 
between the Kentucky and the Cumberland. The govern- 
mental features of the assemblage at Boonesborough were 
forced upon them. The regulation of the franchise, the 
making of laws and appointment to magisterial duties, was 

' Collins' History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 509. Morehead, Boonesborough Address, 
p. 41, estimates the number as 150. 

° Boone brought his wife and daughter to Boonesborough in June, 1775. Mrs. 
Harrod, Mrs. Denton, and Mrs. McGary arrived at Harrod's Station in September of 
the same year. 



30 The Political Bcgitinings of Kentucky. 

either reserved in their intention for arrangement by a char- 
ter which they hoped to secure, or left to await the develop- 
ment of the future. 

But the outlook for the Transylvania Company was far 
from encouraging, notwithstanding tlie apparent harmony of 
its House of Delegates and Proprietors. 

Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, had already issued 
a proclamation against "one Richard Henderson and other 
disorderly persons, his associates, who, under pretense of a 
purchase from the Indians, contrary to the aforesaid orders 
and regulations of His Majesty, has set up a claim to lands 
of the crown within the limits of the colony;" denouncing 
the treaty of Watauga and the Transylvania scheme. Hen- 
derson, in his speech to the delegates, alludes to this as being 
"an infamous and scurrilous libel lately printed and pub- 
lished concerning the settlement of this country, the author 
of which avails himself of his station, and under the specious 
pretense of proclamation, pompously dressed and decorated 
in the garb of authority, has uttered invectives of the most 
malignant kind, and endeavored to wound the good name 
of persons whose moral character would derive little advan- 
tage by being placed in competition with his, charging them, 
among other things equally untrue, with a design 'of forming 
an asylum for debtors and other persons of desperate circum- 
stances,' placing the proprietors of the soil at the head of a 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 31 

lawless train of abandoned villains, against whom the regal 
authority ought to be exerted, and every possible measure 
taken to put a stop to so dangerous an enterprise."' 

Governor Martin, of North Carolina, also denounced vig- 
orously and promptly the treaty made within the jurisdiction 
of his government, and the attempt to obtain Indian lands 
by private contract. He explicitly declared the Watauga 
purchase illegal.' 

The North Carolina proprietors, thus disowned at home 
and confronted by Lord Dunmore's assertion of Virginia's 
ownership and jurisdiction, must have been convinced that 
their pretensions would find no favor, judged by the prece- 
dents of royal colonies. They had distinctly ignored the 
prohibitions of the Proclamation of 1763, and could scarcely 
hope for their enterprise a better treatment at Court than 
had been accorded by the two Governors. 

It may have been this thought, or it may have been pure 
patriotism — perhaps both motives entered into their action — 
that induced the proprietors when they met in September, 
1775. at O.xford, in Granville County, North Carolina, to 
prepare a memorial addressed to the Continental Congress 
at Philadelphia. 

'Henderson's speech is given in j5«//t'r (second edition) and in Collins, Vol. II, p. 
503. The proclamation of Lord Dunmore will be found in Force's American Archives, 
Vol. II, p. 174. 

'^ Kainsay, History of Tennessee, p. 126. 



32 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky, 

The purport of this document (along with which went an 
argument for the legahty of the Watauga purchase), was that 
the proprietors "having made this purchase from the abo- 
rigines and immemorial possessors — the sole and uncon- 
tested owners of the country — in fair and open treaty, and 
without the violation of British or American law whatever, 
are determined to give it up only with their lives . . . 
requesting that Transylvania might be added to the number 
of united colonies, having their hearts warmed with the same 
noble spirit that animates the colonics, and moved with indig- 
nation at the late ministerial and parliamentary usurpations, 
it is the earnest wish of the proprietors of Transylvania to 
be considered by the colonies as brethren engaged in the 
same great cause of liberty and mankind."' 

The bearer of the memorial, James Hogg,' one of the 
proprietors, was not received by the Congress. The ill-suc- 
cess of his mission was largely attributable to the strong 
opposition which Patrick Henry expressed to the proprie- 
tors' claim. He had been consulted in 1774 by Col. William 
Byrd and John Page upon the possibility of purchasing 
lands from the Cherokees, and was informed that the Indians 
were willing to treat on the subject. He testified at a later 
date that: 

' Collins, Hislor)' of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 511; Morehead, Boomsboivugh Address, p. 36. 
'James Hogg, nalive of Augusta County, Va., and brother of Peter Hogg, drafts- 
man of the remonstrance against Transylvania Colony. 



The Poliiical Beginnings of Kentucky. 33 

"Not long after this and before any treaty was Resolved on, the 
Troubles with Great Britain seemed to Threaten Serious Consequences, and 
this Deponent became a member of the first Virginia Convention and a mem- 
ber of the first continental congress, upon which he determined witii him- 
self to disclaim all Concern and Connection with Indian Purchases, for the 
Reasons following, that is to say: He was Informed shortly after his arrival 
at Congress of many Purchases of Indian Lands, shares in most or all of 
which were offered to this Deponent and Constantly refused by him, because 
of the Enormity in the Extent to which the Bounds of those Purchases were 
carry'd. Another Reason for this Refusal was that Disputes had arisen on 
the subject of these purchases, & this Deponent, being a member of both 
Congress & Convention, conceived it improper for him to be concerned as a 
party in any of these partnerships on which it was probable lie mi^ht decide 
as a Judge. The Deponent says he was further fixed in his Determination 
not to be concerned in any Indian Purchase whatever, on the prosiiect of 
the Present War, by which the Sovereignty & Right of Disposal in the soil 
of America would probably be claimed by the American States. 

"After conversing with the said Wm. Byrd, & Communicating his senti- 
ments freely on the subject, the Deponent sailh that the scheme dropt, nor 
did it proceed further than is above related. The Deponent further says 
that Wm. Henderson & his Partners very soon after their supposed Pur- 
chase joined in a letter to this Deponent, in which was contained, as this 
Deponent thinks, a Distant though plain Hint that he, the Deponent, might 
be a partner with them. The Deponent also says he rec'd a great number 
of Messages from Messrs. Henderson & Co., inviting him to be a partner; 
that Mr. Henderson, in his own person, & Mr. Allen Jones (a partner in the 
purchase), both appiy'd to the deponent to join him in their schemes, but the 
Deponent uniformly refused, & plainly Declared his Strongest Disapprobation 
of their whole proceedings, giving as a Reason that the People of Virginia 
had a right to the back country derived from their Charter & the Blood and 
Treasure they expended on that account. The Deponent says'he is not now 
nor ever has been concerned, directly or indirectly, in any Indian Purchase 
of Lands, & that lie knowetli nothing of Mr. Henderson's contract."' 

'^ Deposit ion of Patrick Henry, 4th June, 1777, Calcnd.ir of Virginia Slate Papers, 
Vol. I, p. 289. 

5 



34 The Political Beginnings of Kcnhicky. 

The date of Henr3''s deposition (4th June, 1777), and the 
emphatic refusal with wliich, as he asserts, he met offers of 
participation in the Transylvania Company, leave no room 
for doubt that Henderson and his associates resorted to 
methods not entirely unknown to more modern projectors. 
But their efforts to bias the pure and patriotic mind of Patrick 
Henry utterly failed. The attempt to approach him and sell 
or give to him an interest in enterprises about which he was 
perhaps to vote as a legislator proved fatal to the plan. Jef- 
ferson also was perhaps approached and his influence sought 
to be enlisted, but the result was equally unfavorable.' It 
was too soon by many years to griAV rich in the public 
employ. 

Public life and conscientious discharge of public duty 
brought Henry and Jefferson and Monroe to jDoverty, from 
which the first only rescued himself by a resolute return to 
private life. 

The attempt to practice upon the integrity of Henry and 
Jefferson at once aroused their attention to the question of 
colonial boundaries and titles. The true history of the 
Watauga treaty was exposed by Henry, and the effect of a 
congressional recognition explained. The memorial failed, 
and Mr. Hogg, its bearer, returned to North Carolina baffled 
and disappointed. 

' Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 513. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 35 

There were elements of disintegration at work within the 
Transylvania colony itself. Its first adherents came to doubt 
the title and question the policy of the proprietors. The 
proclamations of Dunmore and Martin perhaj^s first shook 
their confidence in the title offered them by Henderson, but 
to this were soon added irritating exactions on the proprie- 
tors' part, and acts of discrimination in the interest of their 
favorites that alienated all the influential men among the 
pioneers. 

The closing days of the meeting at Boonesborough had 
been signalized by the formal issue of commissions to magis- 
trates." These ran in the naiie of the proprietors, and were 
signed by Henderson. An oath of fealty to the proprietors 
as sovereigns of the country and lords of the soil was de- 
manded of the colonists.' The feudal ceremony of livery 
of seizin was insisted upon, and acceptance of tenure as from 
lords paramount made a condition of the grants.' The mul- 
tiplication of ceremonies and assertion of feudal title greatly 
dissatisfied James Harrod and his associates. They soon 
discovered that for their labor and pains in subduing and 
protecting the new country they would have at best but a 
doubtful tide to such lands, and in such quantities as the 
proprietors might choose to sell them. 

^Henderson's Diary, 5th June, 1775, in Collins. Vol. II, p. 501. 

^ Def>osiiioii of James Djiiguiss, in Calendar 0/ Virginia Stale Papers, Vol. I, p. 309. 

3 Virginia Calendar, Vol. I, p. 309. 



36 The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The effect of the treaty of Fort Stanwix began to be 
discussed by John Todd and Harrod. Douglass admitted 
the grave doubt which he, as a veteran surveyor, had as to 
the Henderson title. John Floyd soon had news from his 
relative. Col. William Preston, of Augusta County, Surveyor 
and County Lieutenant of Fincastlc (and whose deputy he 
was), that the paramount title of Virginia would be recog- 
nized and enforced. 

So the adventurers, determined to repudiate the Transyl- 
vania Company and its claim of title from the Cherokees, 
resumed the location of land warrants, under the King's 
proclamation of 1763, and returned their surveys to the office 
of Fincastle County, Virginia. 

A petition addressed to the Convention of Virginia was 
prepared in the autumn of 1775, and soon signed by eighty- 
four of those who had before acquiesced in Henderson's 
claim. Its draftsman was Capt. Peter Hogg, of Augusta 
County, "who was a skilled lawyer,"' a brother of James, 
one of the Transylvania proprietors. This document reached 
the Virginia Convention in March, 1776, and was the begin- 
ning of a frequent and important political intercourse between 
the parent State and its western colony. 

The petitioners, after setting forth the alluring hopes of 
"an indefeasible title," which Henderson and his associates 

' Ve/'osition of Abraham Hite, 23d October, 1778, in Virgitiia Cakndar State Papers, 
Vol. ], p. 302. 



The Political Begitmings of Kentucky. 2)7 

had assured, and the many hardships they had encountered 
in estabhshing themselves in the wilderness, complained of 
arbitrary and onerous advances made by the proprietors on 
the prices of land and the scale of fees for surveys. They 
alluded to the treaty of Fort Stanwix and the deed of the 
Six Nations (a copy of which they had just procured), and 
advanced a doubt if the Cherokees ever had title to sjive 
Henderson. Consequently (the petition argued) the royal 
title would be good for whoever might obtain grants, and 
those who should rely on Henderson's grant might be turned 
out of possession. They prayed the convention to take the 
case of the pioneers under its care, to invoke, if need be, the 
Continental Congress, and to disallow the claims of Hender- 
son and his associates. 

"And [said they] as we are anxious to concur in every 
respect with our brethren of the United Colonies for our 
just rights and privileges, so far as our infant settlement and 
situation will admit of, we humbly expect and implore to be 
taken under the protection of the honorable convention of 
the colony of Virginia, of which we can not help thinking 
ourselves a part." ' 

The Transylvania Company made every effort to carry 
out their contracts, but the prestige of their claim was gone. 
Another communication from an assembly of elected dele- 

' CoHins, History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 510. 



38 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

gates of pioneers, held at Harrod's Station, was prepared 
17th July, 1776, and laid before the convention by John 
Gabriel Jones and George Rogers Clark, duly chosen as del- 
egates to represent them, and who undertook a journey to 
Virginia for that purpose." 

It required the presence of one possessed of Clark's de- 
cision to put the relations of Virginia and Kentucky upon 
the basis of a definite and satisfactory understanding. His 
conference with Patrick Henry, then Governor, was all that 
he could ask; but the Executive Council hesitated to send 
out to the West the five hundred pounds of powder that 
Clark declared was absolutely needed to protect the frontier. 
There was doubt with some of the council whether Virginia's 
borders included Kentucky; whether the Indian title of the 
Cherokees was not really good, and the right of Henderson 
under it better than Virginia's. The council, while willing 
to lend the gunpowder to the pioneers as friends, were not 
sure that it could be <;ivcn to them as fellow-citizens of the 
colony. 

In all his years of distinguished and fruitful service George 
Rogers Clark never perhaps showed the clearness and strength 
of his resolution more conspicuously than then. He refused 
the proffered loan, and announced his intention to return and 
establish an independent State, whose resources should be 

' The original manuscript of tliis noteworthy memorial is in the writer's possession. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 39 

exerted in her own protection since the parent colony declined 
the duties of sovereignty. The firmness of Clark, supported 
by Henry's powerful aid, convinced the wavering Executive 
Council, and on 26th August, 1776, was made the decisive 
order by which Virginia assumed the duty of military pro- 
visions for Kentucky. It was the assumption by the State 
of Virginia, so newly declared independent, of all territorial 
rights and of all royal prerogatives within the colonial 
boundaries. 

The step once taken was never retraced. The legislation 
obviously necessary was soon matured and enacted. The vast 
county of Fincastle was divided into smaller municipalities, 
and as one of these there came into existence on 7th Decem- 
ber, 1776, as an organized political subdivision of Virginia, 
the county of Kentucky.' 

The claim of the Transylvania Company vanished. Its 
projectors recognized the force of events they could not 
control, and wisely abandoned all hope of proprietary sover- 
eignty or ownership. To compensate for the outlay they had 
sustained, and the real or supposed public benefits that had 
accrued from their attempted organization of Transylvania, 
a grant of land was made under act of 17th November, 
1778.'' Henderson and his associates accepted the donation, 

' 9 Betting, Statutes at Large, p. 257. 

^The terms of Uie grant to Henderson and his associates will be found in g Hen- 
ing. Statutes at Large, 57 1. 



40 The Political Begintiings of Kentucky. 

which incUidcd two hundred thousand or more acres in the 
angle between the west bank of Green River and the Ohio. 
With the grant they accepted the construction of title that 
the act declared, that the Cherokee claim of title was void 
and the Watauga purchase a nullity. 

The sovereignty of the soil of Kentucky was assured 
beyond cavil in the State of Virginia as political successor of 
the British Crown. Right by discovery; right by charter of 
1609; right by treaty stipulation of 1763 between France, 
Spain, and Great Britain; right by extinction of the title of 
the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix in 1768; right by extinction 
of the Cherokee title at Watauga; right by Henderson's ab- 
dication of the Cherokee title; right by request and consent 
of the people of Kentucky; all were now concentered in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia. 

And with this consummation disappeared the "proprie- 
tary" idea from American institutions. Its success was 
never possible in those times of political ferment. 

County and DistPict of Kentucky. 

The County of Kentucky, thus organized as part of the 
Commonwealth of Virginia, speedily showed that material 
progress which attends the establishment of political order. 
A Court of Quarter Sessions was established, holding its 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 41 

terms at Harrodsburg, and counting among the justices of 
the quorum such really able men as John Todd, John Floyd, 
Benjamin Logan, and Richard Callaway.' An election was 
held at which delegates to the Virginia House of Burgesses 
were chosen; and, ir.ost important of all for the immediate 
needs of the infant settlement, a thorough organization of 
the militia under Clark's general supervision was at once 
completed. Every man reported in turn for his share of the 
military duty rendered absolutely necessary by constant at- 
tacks of Indians. As yet there was ample unappropriated 
land for the adventurous to explore and the strong to keep. 
The tide of prosperity was setting in; its first fruits were 
seen in multiplied clearings and patches of corn that dotted 
the canebrakes and forests. The settlements became more 
numerous and strong. The solitary stations gathered ham- 
lets about them. Wives and daughters joined the pioneers, 
and comforts began to accumulate. 

The simple machinery of a simple court of cjuarter sessions 
was enough for some years. There was but little litigation 
or cause for it until the conflict of land titles began to arise. 

'A sketch of the' life of John Todd and his important public services, up to his 
death at the Blue Licks, at the age of thirty-two, will be found in an oration delivered at 
the Centennial Conimenioraiion of the Battle of the Blue Licks, August, 18S2, by the 
writer of this paper. An account of John Floyd, so far as material availed, is given 
in an article on Kentucky Pioneers, in Harper's Magazine for June, 18S7. Mr. E. G. 
Mason, of Chicago, is preparing a Life of John Todd, with special reference to his 
services in the Illinois country. Thomas M. Green, Esq., of Maysville, Ky., has pub- 
lished an elaborate sketch of Logan. 

6 



42 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

But, as surveys and settlements increased, the confusion 
of overlapping and interfering grants became well-nigh inex- 
tricable. In addition to grants based on the royal proclama- 
tion of 1 763, there was a variety of State warrants authorizing 
locations. There was a right of settlement for him who "made 
an improvement" or "raised a crop of corn," and around this 
settlement right as a center was the "pre-emption right" of 
the settler entitling him to one thousand acres on easy terms. 

The surveyors of that time were well educated and skill- 
ful," but the difficulties were great and the dangers constant. 
Only a few years passed before a host of land quarrels em- 
broiled the entire population. 

The remedy proposed by the parent State was the obvious 
one of a special land commission to adjust claims and give 
judicial sanction to those found valid. Such a tribunal was 
appointed in 1779, convening in the autumn at Harrods- 
burg." Its first official act was to examine and validate the 
land claim of Isaac Shelby, on 14th October, 1779, at St. 
Asaph Station. A land office of the Commonwealth was 

also organized in the same year to issue patents for land in 

' Surveyors were, by law, required to be " nominntcd and certified " as " able," by 
tlie president and professors of William and Mary Colloge. One sixth part of survey- 
ors' fees inured to the benefit of that college. (lo Hcning, Stadtles at Large, 53.) 

^The Land Commission for Kentucky was created by Statute of 1779. (10 Hening, 
Stntules at Large, p. 43, .sec. 8.) An account of its constitution and work is given by 
Dr. Whitsilt, in his paper on Caleb Wallace, in the Filson Club publications. The Com- 
mission, as originally named, consisted of William Fleming, Edmund Lyne, James Bar- 
bour, and Stephen Trigg, with John Williams, jr., as clerk. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 43 

satisfaction of treasuij warrants and to dispose of the pub- 
lic domain. 

Meantime Richard Callaway and John Todd had repre- 
sented the County of Kentucky at Williamsburg, and the 
latter had especially impressed his activity and intelligence 
upon his brother legislators. At his instance the towns of 
Boonesborough' and Louisville' were incorporated, and with 
an enlightened prevision of the need of the future State 
he procured the legislature of Virginia to dedicate the 
escheated lands of Tory refugees in trust "as a free donation 
from this commonwealth for the public school or seminary 
of learning to be erected within the said county."' 

The legislative session of May, 1780, accomplished the 
division of the County of Kentucky into the three counties 
of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Fayette." The name Kentucky 
came near being lost, as had been that of Fincastle. It sur- 
vived in the usage that had adopted it as a convenient term 
for the western country, and was revived with the establish- 
ment of the "District of Kentucky" in 1782,^ and its subse- 

' 10 Heniiig, Stn/uies at Large, 134. 

^ 10 Hfnitig, Statutes at Large, 298. 

3 10 Henhig, Statutes at Large, 287. The preamble declares the policy of the Com- 
monwealth as being "always to promote and encourage every design which may tend 
to the improvement of the mind and the diffusion of useful knowledge, even among 
its remote citizens whose situation a barbarous neighborhood and a savage intercourse 
might otherwise render unfriendly to science." The grant is to a list of weli-known 
meli as trustees; but the right of former owners to show cause against the forfeiture is 
carefully reserved. 

* 10 Henbtg, Statutes at Large, 3 1 5. 

5 1 1 Helling, Statutes at Large, 85. 



44 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

quent representation in 1787 in the Continental Congress 
as the District of Kentucky within the Commonwealth of 
Virginia, and the agitation of its admission as an independ- 
ent and separate State into the American Union. 

The importance of the county organizations within Ken- 
tucky was greater than might be supposed. For the first 
time in their western life the pioneers had within their own 
limits the elements of strictly legal though limited organi- 
zation of the civil and military powers. In Fayette, John 
Todd was the county lieutenant and colonel of militia, with 
Boone as his second in rank. Across the Kentucky, Ben 
Logan held the chief rank in Lincoln, and John Floyd in 
Jefferson. It was thus possible to gather an efficient array 
in sudden emergencies, and to keep on foot the continual 
scouts of small parties in which all the able-bodied men of 
the district took their part by turns. Over the general con- 
duct of these Clark, in his capacity of brigadier, had super- 
vision. 

The system of county governments and statutory powers 
of the local justices enabled the levy of the small taxes for 
pressing military and civil need. First in the history of taxa- 
tion within the State is the head-tax of ten pounds of tobacco, 
which the justices of Lincoln County on 21st November, 
1783, imposed upon their constituents. But withal the civil 
power, though never overborne, was of far less importance 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 45 

in the affairs of the new communities than was the sharp 
authority hi the military commandants, for the exercise of 
which occasion was presented daily. It is creditable to the 
discrimination of the pioneers that they never confused in 
their own minds nor confounded in practice the executive 
and judicial ideas. The principal militia officers, who were 
by statute given power to call out troops, were, perhaps, all 
of them justices within their several counties. Some of them 
also filled peculiarly executive posts, as Todd, who was 
Governor of the Illinois, and some were commissioned 
judges of oyer and terminer, as was Floyd in the District 
Court organized in March, 1783.' Yet it is very observable 
that no difficulty seems to have arisen from their appar- 
ently incompatible offices. No complaint has come down 
in memorial or tradition that the military trenched on the 
civil power, or that the civil magistrate interfered with mili- 
tary relations. 

The militant attitude of the communities gave great con- 
sideration to the county lieutenants and colonels, and with 
these, especially after the battle of the Blue Licks, in August, 
1782, was, as a general rule, the initiative of public action 
upon important measures. This will be observed in the his- 
tory of those conventions which through a scries of years 

'The act creating the "District Court on the Western Waters" is given in II 
Hening, Statutes at Large, 85. 



46 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

were convened to consider the erection of the District into 
a "separate and independent State."" 

The establishment of the County of Kentucky in 1776, 
and the assumption of military and poHtical sovereignty by 
Virginia, which the furnishing of gunpowder to the front- 
iersmen distinctly imported, was the necessary foundation of 
that series of operations so ably conducted by Clark into the 
Northwest Territory. Other expeditions were numerous and 
effective, but they were limited within the narrower lines of 
retaliatory attack upon Indian towns, or pursuit within their 
lands of war parties that from time to time made incursions 
into Kentucky. But the broad and permanent political 
significance of Clark's plan was thoroughly appreciated by 
perhaps none but Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson in 
Virginia, and by Clark and his chief lieutenant, John Todd, 
in the West. To the great body of the people and public men 
in Virginia the news from across the mountains had but a far- 
off sound, and was little heeded in the nearer and more per- 
sonal experience of the Revolutionary struggle. To the north- 
ward, and especially in New England, men were marshaled 

'The phrase •'sefarat; and indepmihnl Stati" is used in each of Ihe Virginia nets 
touchiiij^ the organizing of the State of Kentucky as well as in all the proclamations, 
memorials, resolutions, and proceedings of conventions concerning that subject. As 
this movement had its commencement long before the assembling of the Federal Con- 
stitutional Convention, there is much ignorance or insincerity in criticising those words 
in the light of the Federal and Anti-Federal theories of the constitution that came into 
being at a later period. Much of the political rancor of after days rested upon this 
confusion of historical sequence, and the changed ideas that such terms suggested to zeal- 
ous partisans. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 47 

in desperate conflict within their own borders, and faced the 
all-engrossing problem of the subjection or independence of 
their own communities. Very eminent and patriotic men 
doubted, and many of them vehemently denied, the wisdom 
of territorial expansion toward the west. A very influential 
opinion prevailed that it would be ruinous to the older colo- 
nies, now asserting themselves as revolted and independent 
States, to have their scanty populations drained by the fever 
of western emigration.' 

The defense of the West was not permitted to become a 
continental measure. It was relegated as a purely domestic 
concern to Virginia and her sons in Kentucky. In the face 
of the appalling difiiculties that confronted the establishment 
of colonial independence, all thought of acquiring new and 
unexplored territory seemed chimerical. Another and a 
weighty consideration that tended to confirm the reluctance 
of the seaboard population to embark the revolted colonies 

' The feeling of the Atlantic population was at no time friendly to the growth of 
the West. The reasons given were quite sound from the standpoint of things as they 
then were. Gerry was not the only prominent man who distinctly advocated the crest 
of the Alleghanies as the boundary of the united colonies. The opinion lasted in full 
force up to the inauguration of Washington. In 1789 Governor Clinton, in a conver- 
sation with Gardoqui, the Spanish Minister, stated that " the attempt to maintain estab- 
lishments at so great a distance, by withdrawing the population of the nearer States, 
would be a national error." (Gardoqui to Floridablaiua, Secret Despatch A'o. 6, 21st No- 
vember, 1789.) The year previous Gardoqui had informed his government that his 
arrangement with Jay would have the support of the Atlantic States, especially in the 
matter of occluding the Mississippi, because the leading men of those States clearly 
realized that the growth of the West would drain the population of the East. (Gardo- 
qui to Floridablanca, Secret Despatch No. 21, 24th October, 17S8.) 



48 The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 

in a direct and aggressive movement upon tlie British terri- 
tory in the Northwest, lay in the complications surrounding 
their relations with Spain. 

It was of obvious importance that the good-will of that 
power should be preserved pending the Revolutionary strug- 
gle; and the Congress had no sooner been advised of the 
rupture between Spain and Great Britain than it sent to 
Madrid a minister charged with the duty of negotiating an 
alliance, and of asserting a right to navigate the Mississippi 
to the Gulf. Both Spain and France refused to admit the 
claim, and the Court of Madrid clearly declared its exclusive 
right of navigation, as well as its right to possess itself (as 
an enemy of England) of all the territory between the "back 
settlements of the former British provinces" and the Missis- 
sippi River. Another announcement was made that savored 
almost of menace: 

" We furthermore expect you to prohibit the inhabitants of your confed- 
eracy from making any attempt toward setthni; on or conquering any por- 
tion of the British territory to which we refer." ' 

The reluctance of the New England statesmen was there- 
fore not unnatural. It seemed clear to the wisest of them 
that the powerful friendship of Spain must be conciliated. 

'The substance of tlie Spanish demand is well given in Gayarre, History of Louis- 
iana, Spanish Dom., p. 134. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 49 

They felt that the abstract right of navigating the Missis- 
sippi to the sea could never become a practical question until 
American independence should first be achieved. To press 
it upon Spain while the war was waging and the outlook far 
from encouraging, seemed unwise irritation of a needed 
friend. And still less could their judgment sanction a mili- 
tary expedition disapproved and indeed forbidden by Spain, 
and to conduct which troops must be withdrawn from Wash- 
ington's depleted army. The crisis of the struggle was in 
the East. Failure there meant ruin everywhere. The sub- 
jugation of New England and New York would determine 
the fate of North America. "Why then," thought they, 
"shall the demands of a powerful and friendly nation be 
contemptuously treated in sheer wantonness of unprofitable 
contention over a right which, if conceded, can not be en- 
joyed until independence is first achieved.''" 

A great political idea, nevertheless, took firm hold of 
Henry and Jefferson, and with their support Clark and the 
pioneers of Kentucky solved it in the subjugation of the 
Northwest. 

Henry was prompt to put into political shape the suc- 
cessful campaign of Clark, and it was by his influence (aided 
always by Jefferson) that Virginia, by legislative act passed 
at the October session of 1778, organized the country beyond 
the Ohio, and extending to the Mississippi and the Lakes, as 

7 



50 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

apolitical subdivision of the Commonwealth, "The County of 
Illinois," and provided for its proper administration.' 

John Todd, already county lieutenant of Fayette, in 
Kentucky, was named county lieutenant of the Illinois, and 
furnished with elaborate and sagacious instructions from the 
pen of Henrj^"" 

The foothold thus established beyond the Ohio, and the 
organization of the County of Illinois, gave additional j^os- 
sibilities for political development in Kentucky. With the 
incursion of Girty in 17S2, and the battle of the Blue Licks, 

' 9 Hening, Slatntes at Large, 552. 

^The executive iiistruciions of 12th December, 1778, are given in full, i Virginia 
Calendar of Slati Papers, 312. A perusal of Ihcm will confirm that higher estimate of 
Patrick Henry's wisdom and foresiglit which recently prevails. A nianuscrijit note 
book of John Todd, continued after his departure from the Illinois, has been recov- 
ered by the Chicago Historical Society. Among other curious entries upon its pages 
is the following {TodU's I\olc Bo,l\ p. 19): 

"WARRANT FOR EXECUTION. 
" Illinois, to wit : 

"To Richard Winston, Esqr., Sheriff in Chief of the District of Ksskaskia. 

"Negro Manuel, a slave, in your custody, is condemned by the Court of Kaskaskia, after hav- 
ing maiJe lionorable Fine at the Door of the Church, to be chained to a post at the Water Side, there 
to be burnt alive and his ashes scattered. This sentence you arc hereby reqiiii cd to put in Execution 
on Tuesday next at 9 o'clock in the morning, and this shall be your warrant. 

"Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia the 13th day of June in the third year of the 
Commonwealth." 

This entry is unsigned, and is erased by eleven perpendicular marks, and does not, 
therefore, prove that such an execution took place. There was no law of Virginia 
authorizing such a punishment for crime; but the "Act for establishing the county of 
Illinois." premising that it would be "dilTicult, if not impracticable, to govern" the 
people of that conquered territory "by the present laws of this conjmonwealth," se- 
cured to the French inhabitants full enjoyment of their own customs and .system of laws. 
"All civil officers to which the said inhabitants have been accustomed, necessary for 
the preservation of peace and the administration of justice, shall be chosen by a major- 
ity of the citizens in their respective districts," and these "shall exercise their several 
jurisdictions, and conduct themselves agreeable to the laws which the present settlers 
are accustomed to." The inliabitants of Kaskaskia district elected a court entirely 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 5 1 

the danger of overwhelming Indian invasion ceased, and 
thenceforward Indian warfare was restricted to the deadly 
and frequent encounters of individuals or small parties. The 
new district was safe from overthrow, and it carried war to 
the Scioto and the Wabash. 

The country, thus comparatively freed from public dan- 
ger, attracted an immigration that was large in numbers and 
important in character. With the close of the Revolution 
the influx of population was marked. From Virginia there 
came many whose relatives or friends had already located in 
Kentucky. The "Blue-grass" section attracted large num- 
bers from Augusta and Rockbridge counties whose descend- 
ants still present many of their characteristics — large stature, 
courage and energy of action, and strong Calvin istic creeds. 

From Maryland came at different times parties of settlers 
who established themselves in what are now known as 



composed of old French settlers {Todd's Note Book, p. 8), and from this fact, and the 
terms of the sentence directing aviende ItonontHe at the church door, burning at ;he 
stake, and scattering of ashes 't seems that sorcery was the imputed crime. It is to be 
hoped (as the erasure of the warrant possibly indicates) that the sentence was not exe- 
cuted, and that Todd interposed a pardon. This he could have done in a case of sor- 
cery, but could not have done had tlie crime been murder ; the lavv being that " it shall 
and may be lawful for the county lieuten.int or commandant in chief to pardon his or 
her offense, except in cases of murder or treason, and in such cases he may resjiite exe- 
cution from time to time, until tlie sense of the governor in the first in-.tance, and of 
the general assembly in the case of treason, is obtained." I'g Hening^ Siatiilt-s, 553 ad. Jin.) 
It is to be hoped that the researches of Mr. Mason will develop tlie history of what 
was almost certainly the last instance of a prosecution for witchcraft or soroery. The 
negroes owned by the French on the Mississippi were from Louisiana, and most of 
them imported from Africa. If so, the practice or suspicion of voudouism could be 
accounted for. 



5 2 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Marion, Nelson, and Washington counties, bringing with 
them their ancient friendships and alHances, and impressing 
on those localities their Roman Catholic faith. 

The Baptists, so recently emancipated from legal perse- 
cution, also sought the new State in large numbers.' Their 
migrations were, in not a few instances, by congregations, 
for the new country presented to them a double attraction. 
As a rule they brought but little wealth, yet the road to that 
fortune which lay in securing provision for their children 
seemed open. But the strongest motive with the Baptist 
adventurers lay in the absolute religious equality they were 
to enjoy in the new West. The prejudices of an established 
church still affected them in Virginia, though statute declared 
all religions alike in the eye of the law. They had lived 
through so much opprobrium that the breath of full freedom 
seemed an answer to long-suffering and prayer. They came 
filled with convictions that gave them deserved influence, and 
shaped in no small measure the sentiments of the new State. 

The absorbing object with the new immigrants was the 
acquisition of lands upon which they might settle, or which 
in the expected enhancement of values they might turn to 

'The influence upon Kentucky of the different denominations represented in the 
early immigration is full of interest for curious inquirers. Waddell's History of Augusta 
County, Va., Davidson's History of Presbyterian Church in Kentucky, Webb's Cente- 
nary History of Catholicity in Kentucky, Spencer's History of Baptist Church in Ken- 
tucky, are sources of information; besides such minor publications as Taylor's Ten 
Churches, Hickman's Narrative (MS.), McAfee's History of Providence Church (MS,), 
and the like. 



The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 53 

profit. As yet there were but two practicable modes of 
deriving title: one the location of military warrants for 
services in the French and Indian wars, and for which the 
royal proclamation of 1763 provided; the other the location 
of Virginia treasury warrants, issued during the Revolution- 
ary struggle. These warrants were all assignable, and were 
for a long time the chief transferable value in the new coun- 
try. They presupposed the sovereignty of the King and of 
his political successor, the State of Virginia. 

But the influx of population and the avidity with which 
the better lands were sought suggested again the old ques- 
tion of title, and a party of agitators soon began to make 
head, contending that with the achievement of American 
independence the ownership of all the vacant and unoccu- 
pied lands devolved upon the United States in exclusion of 
State claim. In support of this theory, which struck at the 
root of all land titles in the West, its advocates reproduced 
and amplified the argument of Tom Paine against the Vir- 
ginia title, and in favor of treating the northwest country as 
a fund to pay their Revolutionary War debt' 

' Writings of Thomas Paine:*"/'K^/?V Good, being an Examination into the Claim of 
Virginia to the vacant Western Tei'ritory, etc." (1780), p. 41. This paper very strongly 
disputed the Virginia claim. It advocated the establishment of a new State "between 
the Alleghany Mountains and the river Ohio as far north as the Pennsylvania line, 
thence down said river to the falls thereof, thence due south into the latitude of the 
North Carolina line, and thence east to the Alleghany Mountains aforesaid" (pp. 36, 
37). This would have included all Kentucky east of Louisville — already occupied and 
politically organized as a county of Virginia. 



54 The Political Begitinings of Kentucky. 

They noisily argued that all the Virginia patents were 
void, and all her legislation and the proceedings of the land 
commission mere nullities. Two apostles of this theory 
were especially conspicuous, one Galloway, in Fayette, and 
George Pomeroy, in Jefferson. Their following was the 
body of the landless or land speculating, and they seem to 
have played the demagogue with much success. All land 
owners were alarmed and the country put into a ferment by 
Pomeroy's repeated assertions that he had news of Con- 
gress' action annulling all the Kentucky claims and assum- 
ing the ownership of the soil; and even more, by the actual 
appropriation of lands by those who affected to believe the 
rumor. Walker Daniel, attorney for the District of Kentucky, 
very cleverly declined to argue the question of Virginia's 
title, but taking advantage of the untrue assertion by Pome- 
roy, that Congress had assumed paramount title, indicted the 
champions under an ancient colonial statute of Virginia lev- 
eled against the spreaders of false news." A conviction fol- 
lowed, and a fine of two thousand pounds of tobacco was in- 
flicted, with a requirement of surety for good behavior in the 
future.' The treatment was effectual. No new disturber arose. 



'This statute, "Dwufgers of False A'aas," is the eleventh in order of colonial 
enactments, and the first of a civil nature. The ten older colonial acts relate exclus- 
ively to glebes, tithes, and the establishment of the State religion. 

^Letters of Walker Daniel to Governor Harrison, January igth and May 21, 1784. 
{Virginia Cakndur of State Papers, Vol. Ill, pp. 555 and 584.) The record of Pomeroy's 
conviction is preserved at Louisville in the County Court. 



The Political Beginniiigs of Kentucky. 55 



The Agitation foP Separate Politieal 
Organization. 

The subdivision of Kentucky into three counties and its 
organization into a district for judicial purposes tended 
greatly to stimulate immigration. There was enough of 
settled civic life to convince new adventurers that order was 
emerging from the desperate border warfare that had for 
years prevailed. There was a new land opened for those 
whose fortunes had been impaired or ruined in the Revolu- 
tionary struggle, and a new field for the ambitious and enter- 
prising youth just disbanded from the continental army. So 
rapid was the influx that the inconvenience of remote legis- 
lative and executive authority began to be sensibly felt. The 
new and strange surroundings required adaptations of laws 
and exercises of executive power differing greatly from those 
that quite suited the older communities of the parent com- 
monwealth. 

Delegates sent to Williamsburg lost touch of their con- 
stituents. They found it difficult to engage the attention of 
the Virginia burgesses in matters that were of pressing im- 
portance to the West. 

Executive authority for action, urgently and vitally nec- 
essary, could not be procured in time to avert public evils or 



56 The Political Begimiings of Kentucky. 

pursue with promptitude measures that could not safely be 
neglected.' 

The years 1 783 and 1 784 made plain to the people of Ken- 
tucky the absolute necessity of a distinct State organization.' 

A threatened incursion of the Cherokees, whose princi- 
pal towns were upon the since immortalized stream of Chick- 
amauga, suggested to Col. Benjamin Logan the necessity of 
concerted action throughout the District. He had been one 
of the foremost men of the new country since 1775. His 
station of St. Asaph (near the present town of Stanford) had 
been established soon after James Harrod had erected the 
first cabin in the wilderness. A long experience of frontier 
life had made him perfectly familiar with Indian warfare and 
keenly appreciative of the methods that pioneers must use. 
For years he had been lieutenant of his county and colonel 
of the militia, and his name was a synonym for courage, 
prudence, and probity. 

' ' The difficulties and dangers of travel between Kentucky and Virginia are admir- 
ably set forth in Capt. Thomas Speed's account of "Tlie Wilderness Road," in the 
publications of the Filson Club. It is there mentioned as late as 1792 the route of 
Capt. Van Cleve from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) to Philadelphia, when proceeding 
under orders "with all despatch," was by way of Lexington, Crab Orchard, Cumber- 
land Gap, Powell's Valley, Abingdon, Botetourt, Lexington and Staunton, in Virginia, 
Hagerstown, Maryland, and York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Speed, JVilJcrness 
Road, pp. 22, 23.) The distance thus traveled was not less than 826 miles — of which 
not less than 564 miles lay west of Staunton. See the table of distances given in Wil- 
derness Road, p. 17. 

^Marshall (History of Kentucky, ed. of 1S12, p. 225, et sej.) gives, very well, the 
condition of affairs that impelled tlie Kentuckians to seek a separate State organization. 
The sentiment was evidently unanimous. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 5 7 

It seemed to Logan that the threatened danger would 
best be averted by striking the first blow, and that the Chero- 
kees should be attacked before they were ready to take the 
war-path. The urgency seemed all the greater, for he with 
others was convinced that the occasional forays from the 
northwest, as well as the meditated attack from the south, 
were fomented by British agents, who still occupied the un- 
surrendered posts along the lakes. The subsidies contrib- 
uted to Girty and McKee and other renegades strengthened 
this opinion. The presence of Col. Bird, an English officer, 
in the attack of 1781 had confirmed it." 

The Consultation of JWilitia Offieefs. 

The urgency of the situation induced Logan to take the 
initiative in the necessary measure of a general convocation 
of the militia authorities of the District. He issued a call 
on his own responsibility for a meeting to be held in Novem- 
ber, 1784, at Danville, to which newly established "station" 
the District Court had already removed its sittings. 

The militia officers who met in consultation in answer 
to Logan's call encQuntered practical embarrassments that 

'Judge W.ilker, quoted by Prof. Hinsd.ile, has discovered the offici.il list of sup- 
plies furnished for Col. Bird's expedition against the Kentucky settlements, and the 
bills rendered to the British Indian iJepartnient. Among the items is the significant 
one of 476 dozen scalping knives. (Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 158.) 



58 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

seemed to abundantly justify the growing popular desire for 
an independent State organization. The occasion of their as- 
semblage was the threat of an Indian incursion in such force 
as would devastate the country. To await the enemy's com- 
ing was manifest unwisdom. But who was to authorize a 
levy of the militia and a march into the enemy's country, or 
lay a tax to support the troops? 

There was no declared state of war, and consequently the 
county lieutenant possessed no statutory authority to call out 
the men or take measures to equip and supply them. These 
powers had lapsed with the promulgation of the peace with 
Great Britain. 

There were no magazines of war material, nor any public 
funds. It was not possible to pledge the public credit, for 
there was no legislative power at hand to authorize it. In 
short there was no public machinery other than the meager 
authority of the county justices, limited as it was by the stat- 
utes erecting the counties, and that of the militia colonels 
now upon a peace footing. An executive or military act 
required first to be sanctioned by the Governor of Virginia. 
New and original powers could be had only from the legisla- 
ture at Williamsburg. 

The meeting found it impossible to take the decisive 
action suggested by Logan. The counter-attack upon the 
Cherokees could not be made. 



The Political Beginnings of Kenluc/cy. 59 

A further discussion awakened the minds of all to the 
growing needs of the new community and the serious incon- 
veniences that attended the care for ordinary and pressing 
public affairs. Not a ferry could be established, a village 
incorporated, or a necessary magisterial office created with- 
out the ruinous delay and cost attending a journey of peti- 
tioners to the eastern limits of Virginia. 

The conference called for a single military purpose broad- 
ened into a consideration of the general political situation," 
and resulted in a unanimous conviction that the time had 
come when Kentucky should be erected into " a separate and 
independent State," and be incorporated as such into the 
American Union, with a local government of its own. 

The suggestion was not entirely new. Already the in- 
conveniences of their situation had called forth a memorial 
bearing date 15th May, 1780, and signed by six hundred and 
seventy-two inhabitants of "the Countys of Kaintuckey and 
Illinois," which had reached the Congress, carrying a prayer 
"Ihal the Continental Congress will take Proper Methods to 
form us into a Separate Stated It was premature, and the 
MS. slumbered, neither noted in the journals or indexed in 
the papers of Congress, until recently brought to light.-' 

' Liltell, Political Tninsactions in and Conarning Kentucky, l6; Marshall, History oj 
Kentucky, ed. 1812, 227; Butler, History of Kentucky, 145. 

^ The manuscript is No. 48 of the series of papers of the old Congress, preserved 
in the State Department at Washington. It was discovered by Hon. Theodore Roose- 
velt, who kindly informed the writer. 



6o The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 

It was determined, therefore, that a movement should be 
inaugurated looking to this end, and with due regard to 
orderly procedure it was recommended to the people at large 
that representatives be elected — one from each militia com- 
pany—to meet in convention at Danville in the coming 
month to deliberate upon the condition of the District and 
suggest a remedy for the difficulties. 



The Convention of JWilitia Delegates. 

The proposition met with general acceptance. The com- 
panies were notified and chose their representatives, and 
these assembled on 27th December, 1784, at Danville. 

The sessions were prolonged through ten days. William 
Fleming, an influential citizen, presided, and Thomas Todd, 
afterward a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, was secretary of the convention. 

By far the larger number of the delegates were natives of 
Virginia, and bound to the ancient Commonwealth by ties 
of affection and interest. They met without any feeling of 
animosity or estrangement from the parent State, and con- 
ducted all their proceedings and debates with a moderation 
and decorum that has e.xtorted a compliment from an un- 
friendly historian.' 

' Marshall, History of Kentucky, ed. of 1812, 22S. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 6 1 

The convention agreed that very many of the inconven- 
iences that oppressed their people migiit be removed by 
action on tlie part of the legislature of Virginia. There 
were, however, evils inseparably connected with their remote 
and detached situation which plainly could not be cured until 
Kentucky was provided with its own government. A multi- 
tude of considerations enforced this conclusion. And it was 
considered that the suggestion could not give offense to 
Virginia, because her Constitution, adopted in 1776, pro- 
vided in its twenty-first article for the establishment and 
government of new territories westward of the Alleghany 
Mountains.' 

But the delegates, bearing in mind that they were but 
representatives of their respective militia companies, chosen 
without formal warrant of law, abstained from any action 
that might seem to transcend their special powers, and con- 
tented themselves with a recommendation that a convention 
be held in the coming spring (1785), to which delegates 
should be sent instructed to consider the propriety of an 
application to the legislature of Virginia for an act estab- 
lishing the independent State of Kentucky. 

''•The western and northern extent of Virginia shall, in all other respects, stand 
as fixed by the charter of King James the Fir.^t. in the year one thousand six hundred 
and nine, and by the public treaty of peace between the Courts of Great Britain and 
France, in the year one thousand seven hundred and si.xty-three, unless by act of legis- 
lature one or more territories shall hereafter be laid off and governments established 
westward of the Alleghany Mountains." (9 Hening, Statutes at Large. 118.) 



62 The Political Beginniitgs of Kentucky. 

The choice of these delegates, they advised, should be 
made by the people at a civic vote to be taken at the April 
court days (17S5) of the several counties. It was thought 
that ample time would thus be given for preliminary discus- 
sion, and the best opportunity afforded for expression of 
popular opinion.' 

The reasons for this recommendation and the details of 
a plan of procedure were disseminated in conversations 
and by written circulars, for as yet there was not a print- 
ing press within the District," and the suggestion met with 
such general favor that by a very full vote a body of 
twenty-six delegates were selected on the basis of an ap- 
proximate representation of the population of the three 
counties.^ 



'The minutes of the convention of 27th December, 17S4, are given by Crevecoeur. 
{Lcttrcs dUm Cultivatenr Americain, Vol. Ill, p. 438.) They are not to be found else- 
where. The seven resolutions adopted declared : (1) The many inconveniences, civil 
and military, that resulted from the distance from the seat of government ; (2) The 
propriety of considering the formation of a new State, and its admission to the Union ; 
(3) The calling of a convention to consider that matter; (4) That representation 
should be based on freehold population; (5) That 12 delegates from Lincoln, 8 from 
Fayette, and 8 from Jefferson should be chosen; (6) Who should be elected in April 
and convene in May; (7) And that the people be enjoined to choose for delegates 
their best men. 

^ The establishment of a printing press was invited by the trustees of the village of 
Lexington, who, in July, 1786, offered the use of a public lot to John Bradford for 
that purpose. From this press the first number of the " Kentucky Gazette" appeared 
on nth August, 1787. Mr. W. H. Perrin, of the Filson Club, has collected the history 
of the Kentucky luess in his "Pioneer Press of Kentucky" Filson Club Publications 
No. 3. 

i Marshall, History of Kentucky, ed. of 1S12, 230. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 63 

The Convention of Ctlay, 1785. 

< 

The representatives thus chosen met in convention at 

Danville on the 23d May, 1785. By the terms of their elec- 
tion they were intrusted in behalf of their fellow citizens 
with the duty of deliberating upon the general political situ- 
ation, and they felt themselves authorized by the popular 
voice, expressed in the only form then practicable, to inau- 
gurate the movement for an orderly and legal constitution of 
a new State. 

It was a noteworthy feature of this convention, as indeed 
of all the gatherings of the pioneers, that the utmost deco- 
rum, moderation, and adherence to parliamentary procedure 
was observed. A deliberate civility and a certain character- 
istic formality had come with them from their native Vir- 
ginia and impressed itself upon all their proceedings. 

It is interesting to follow the story of those early assem- 
blies. They illustrate some of the finest characteristics of 
the men who made the new State. They vindicate, as will 
be shown, the consistent and loyal purpose that animated 
them, and establish against detraction and envy the purity 
and wisdom not less than the sagacity and perseverance of 
the builders of the Commonwealth. 

The convention spent an entire week in preliminary inter- 
change of views. It was not until the calmest survey of the 



64 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

situation had been had that the first declarative resolution 
was adopted.. On the ninth day of the session (31st May, 
1785) it was 

" Resolved unanimously, as the opinion of this committee, That a peti- 
tion be presented to the Assembly, praying that the said district may be 
established into a State, separate from Virginia. 

"Resolved unanimously, as the o[)inion of this committee, That this dis- 
trict when established into a State ought to be taken into union with the 
United States of America, and enjoy equal privileges in common with the 
said States." 

And further, by way of recommendation to their constitu- 
ents, it was 

"Resolved, That this convention recommend it to their constituents to 
elect deputies in their respective counties, to meet at Danville on the sec- 
ond Monday of August next, to serve in convention, and to continue by 
adjournment till the first day of April next, to take further under their con- 
sideration the state of the district. 

" Resolved unanimously, That the election of deputies for the proposed 
convention ought to be on the principles of equal representation. 

" Resolved, That the petition to the assembly for establishing this dis- 
trict into a state, and the several resolves of the former and present con- 
vention, upon which the petition is tbunded, together with all other matters 
relative to the interest of the district that have been under their considera- 
tion be referred to the future convention, that such further measures may be 
taken thereon as they shall judge proper." 

It is a significant feature of this resolution that it em- 
bodies the idea of equal representation in proportion to 
population, as was indeed suggested by the first convention 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 65 

under the military call. This was a departure from the 
ancient usage of the parent State, wliere representation in 
the House of Delegates was by counties, without regard to 
their population and extent. The innovation thus suggested 
was not o ily in accord with the spirit of the new commu- 
nity where, as in all frontier life, individuality was so gener- 
ally displayed, but voiced a theory inseparable from the 
results of the Revolution and ultimately accepted throughout 
the land. It was upon tliis pivotal point that the political 
differences of after vears in a great degree rested. It involved 
a theory of individual right to representation not very readily 
acquiesced in by those who were the later comers from Vir- 
ginia, but to which the pioneer element and the more ener- 
getic of the younger immigration were firmly attached. 

Having agreed on its resolutions, the convention pro- 
ceeded to draft a petition to the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia, and also an address to "the inhabitants of the District 
of Kentucky." 

Both documents exhibited a sobriety of thought and lan- 
guage suited to the importance of the measure discussed, 
and set forth with cogency the necessities that impelled the 
movement. 

The petition to the legislature of Virginia, after advert- 
ing to the source from which the convention drew its right 
"to take into consideration the propriety and expediency of 

9 



66 Tlie Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

making application to the legislature for having this district 
established into a separate State to be taken into union with 
the United States," called attention to the inconveniences 
springing from their remoteness from the seat of State gov- 
ernment. It reminded the Virginia Legislature of the privi- 
lege and duty (declared by themselves) "of all men to seek 
happiness by entering into any form of civil society, not 
injurious to others, that they may judge most conducive to 
this great end." It gratefully acknowledged the fostering 
care of the parent State, and protested unabated affection for 
her. The prayer was, that " agreeable to the provisional 
clause in the Constitution (of Virginia) the District of Ken- 
tucky may be established into a separate and independent 
State, to be known by the name of the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky." 

The Kentucky petitioners had an abhorrence of anarchy 
c|uite as sincere as was their desire for a separate State 
organization, and they carefully guarded against possible 
injustice or disorder by conditions which they asked to have 
incorporated in the desired Act of Separation. They prayed 
that authority be given to assemble a convention by which 
a constitution and form of government might be framed; 
that the laws of Virginia in force at the time of separation 
should continue to be operative; that the common law of 
England should prevail; and that parliamentary acts of date 



The Political Beginnings oj Kenhtcky. 67 

anterior to the fourth year of King James the First, general 
in their nature and unrepealed by Virginia, should remain 
in force until in due course they might be altered by the leg- 
islative power of the new Commonwealth. They wished to 
assume a proper proportion of the debt of Virginia, and 
asked that commissioners be appointed to adjust the amount. 
And in conclusion they asked that the new State "likewise 
be recommended to Congress to be taken into union with 
the United States of America, to enjoy equal privileges in 
common with them."' 

In its address to the inhabitants of Kentucky the con- 
vention rehearsed the many reasons supporting the move- 
ment for separation from Virginia, the establishment of a 
sovereign State, and its admission into the Union. 

No desire to anticipate the popular will was shown, and 
the better and more certainly to elicit the sentiments of their 
fellow citizens on this all-important point, it was determined 
to recommend another convention of selected delegates to 
finally speak the wish of the District and approach the leg- 
islature of Vircrinia." 

The tone and language of this address has been criticised 
and the motives of the members of the convention of May, 

^ Littell, Political Transactions, Appendix No. 2. 

^Tlie text of the resolutions, petition, and address is given by Liltell {^Political 
Transactions, Appendix 2), and is reprinted with the other documents that form 
appendices to this paper. 



68 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

1785, severely impugned by Marshall in his history of Ken- 
tucky.' Allowance must in justice be made for feelings of 
bitter personal animosity that had existed for nearly thirty 
years when he gave his history to the press in 1812. The 
judicial temper I'f impartial history could hardly exist where 
there was so much of long-existent, well-fostered controversy. 
But when the list of delegates is scanned and upon it found 
as the controlling names those of George Muter, Samuel 
McDowell, Benjamin Logan, Caleb Wallace, William Ken- 
nedy, Harry Innes, James Speed, James Garrard, Levi Todd, 
John Coburn, Robert Patterson, Andrew Hynes, Matthew 
Walton, James Rogers, James Morrison, Philip Barbour, and 
others, the best and most tried and highly trusted of all the 
pioneers, it is absurd to impute to a convention composed of 
such material a design injurious to their people, wrong in 
itself, or uncertain of popular support. To characterize such 
men as "revolutionists," or insinuate an unpatriotic purpose, 
is unwarranted by the history of their lives, and unauthor- 
ized by any proof that has come down to us. Far from 
assuming powers, or transcending those implied in their 
election, the members of the convention of May, 1785, were 
complained of as proceeding with unnecessary and tardy 
deliberation. They appealed to the people for still another 
expression of sentiment, and desired them to select yet 

' Marshall, Hisloiy of Kentiuky, ed. of 1S12, 240. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 69 

another convention to declare the matured opinion of the 
District. 

Adopting this recommendation, the several counties chose 
a body of thirty delegates, who assembled at Danville on 8th 
August, 1785. 

The Convention of August, 1785. 

In this body a series of resolutions was adopted on the 
report of the Committee of the Whole on the State of the 
District, presented through George Muter, its chairman. 
These set forth that the situation of the District, distant 
more than five hundred miles from the seat of government, 
separated from the settlements of Virginia by two hundred 
miles of intervening mountains, often impassable and never 
free from Indian menace, precluded a political connection 
on republican principles, and gave rise to many grievances. 
Of these the principal were: 

1. The impossibility of application to the executive power 
in cases of public emergency, or in cases where clemency 
would be implored. 

2. The difficulty of adequate legislative representation in 
view of the long journey and e.xpense that deterred fit per- 
sons from serving as delegates. 

3. Penalties and losses resulted from want of knowledge 



/O Tlie Political Beginnings of Kcnhicly. 

of the laws passed. They often took effect and expired 
before their existence was made known througliout the Dis- 
trict. 

4. Appeals taken to the High Court at Williamsburg 
involved so much expense and sacrifice of time that justice 
was practically denied to all but the rich. 

The unequal operation of revenue and land laws was also 
pointed out. 

The convention were unanimous in their conclusion, 
which was worded thus: 

" Resolved therefore : That it is the indispensable duty of this Conven- 
tion, as they regard the prosperity and happiness of their constituents, 
themselves, and posterity, to m Uve application to the General Assembly, at 
the ensuing session, for an Act to sejjarate this district from the ]H'esent 
government forever on terms honorable to both and injurious to neither; in 
order that it may enjoy all the advantages, privileges, and immuniti^o of a 
free, sovereign, and independent rej)ublic." 

A memorial to the legislature was prepared. Its matter 
was in every respect unobjectionable, and the ends proposed 
as laudable as they were distinct. The object was a separa- 
tion from the parent State and admission to membership in 
the Federal Union on Virginia's recommendation. 

This prayer was from the pen of Gen. James Wilkinson, 
who had for about a year been a resident of the District. 
The style was somewhat ambitious, as were all his writings, 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 7 1 

and the rhetoric rather turgid, but the matter was sound and 
the tone unobjectionable. The innuendo of premeditated 
alliance with Spain has been leveled at the convention of 
August, 1785, because Wilkinson drafted this paper.' What- 
ever may have been his subsequent intrigues, it is absolutely 
certain that at that time Wilkinson had never met a Spanish 
official, or been within a thousand miles of the authorities of 
Louisiana. He had served honorably and usefully to the 
close of the Revolutionary War, and had come westward 
from Philadelphia to repair his ruined fortunes. His habit- 
ual energy soon made him prominent, and the mercantile 
schemes in which he embarked were successful But it was 
not until 1787 that he made his first commercial voyage to 
New Orleans, or had opportunity for intrigue. Whether he 
at any time sooner than 1795 became an actual pensioner of 
Spain has been at times doubted But, as will appear here- 
after, it is quite certain that as early as 1787 he obtained 
from the Governor at New Orleans exceptional commercial 
privileges, for which he paid by a division of profits. And 
it is now well established that in 1787 he began with Miro 
an intrigue that fully committed him to Spain. 

The bald fact that Wilkinson and Sebastian were mem- 
bers of the conventions of 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, and 
that they failed at a later day in the duties which loyalty and 

' Marshall^ History of Kentucky, ed. of 1S12, 250. 



72 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

ordinary sense of propriety would have imposed, seems but 
an inadequate argument to support a noisy and indiscrim- 
inate cliarge of purposed revolt or change of allegiance. 
Common fairness toward Sebastian must absolve him of any 
improper conduct or design until a later period. The charges 
made against other public men by Marshall were in no 
respect at any time true, as will appear in the course of this 
narrative and the discussion of proofs that have been ex- 
tracted from contemporary documents. 

That the repeated conventions and memorials of the peo- 
ple of Kentucky created neither surprise nor anxiety in the 
breasts of the Revolutionary patriots is ajDparent from the 
action taken by the legislature of Virginia. Judge George 
Muter and Harry Innes, selected as delegates to present the 
petition of the Kentucky Convention, appeared before the 
Virginia Legislature at \\^ winter session of 1785-6, and 
were accorded a favorable hearing. The manifest urgency 
of the situation was such that a bill entitled, "An act con- 
cerning the erection of the District of Kentucky into an In- 
dependent State," was promptly jDassed (January 10, 1786)." . 

By its terms the prayer of the petition was granted, and 
numerous prudent and salutary details of procedure pre- 
scribed for putting in motion a new and independent polit- 

'The principal points of the convention's proceedings are given in the Appendix, 
taken from Littell. The Virginia statute is in 12 Hening, Statutes at Largs, 37. 



Tlie Political Beguuiiugs of Kentucky. 73 

ical machinery, and conserving public and private rights, but 
always subject to affirmative action of the Congress, to be 
taken prior to ist June, 1787, and conditioned on its assent 
that Kentucky should become an independent State, to be 
admitted at "some convenient time "in the future into the 
Federal Union. 

The act of Virginia (of January, 1786,) directed the 
selection by the people of Kentucky of yet another body of 
delegates, to assemble on the 4th Monday of September, 
1786, at Danville. These were to speak for "the good peo- 
ple of the District," and declare in due form whether it was 
their will that the District "be erected into an independent 
State on the terms and conditions" contained in the act. 



The Convention of Septen-ibep, 1786. 

Delegates were accordingly chosen by vote in August, 
and it seemed that at last the successive conventions were 
to have an end in the meeting appointed for the 30th Sep- 
tember, 1786, when the act of Virginia was to be accepted. 
But another disappointment was in store, for on the day fixed 
for its assembling the convention was found to lack a quo- 
rum. "So many of the members had marched with the two 

armies" {i.e., with Clark against the Wabash tribes, and with 

10 



74 The Foliiical Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Logan against the Shawnces) "that a number sufficient to 
proceed to business could not be had."' 

The minority present, acting as a committee, prepared 
a memorial reciting the reasons wliy the convention could 
not proceed to business, and requesting some alterations 
in the Act of Separation. They named John Marshall 
(who was afterward Chief Justice of the United States) as 
their agent to present the memorial to the Virginia Legis- 
lature. 

In the mean time, and to keep alive their legal status, 
the minoritv caused some of its members, together with 
the clerk, to meet and adjourn from day to day until the 
return of the military expeditions should make a quorum 
possible. 

It was not until January, 1787, that a quorum was ob- 
tained and business proceeded with. It was immediately 
voted, in the terms of the Act of Separation passed by Vir- 
ginia, "That it was expedient for, and the will of the good 
people of the District to separate from the State of Virginia 
and become an independent State."'' 

Hardly had this step been taken when, to the surprise 
and disappointment of the delegates and the great body of 
their constituents, news was received of adverse legislation 



in Virginia. 



' Li tie!!. Political Transactions, 21. 
' Littell, Political J'ransactions, 22. 



The Polilicai Beginnings of Kentucky. 75 

The delays in securing a quorum liad consumed so much 
of the time limited by the act of January, 1786, that it 
seemed hopeless to expect a formal presentation to Congress 
and a favorable action by it upon an application for the 
admission of Kentucky as a member of the Federal Union. 
The grand proviso of the enabling act was that such action 
should be taken by Congress "prior to the first day of June, 
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven." Only four 
months of the unexhausted time were left, and the time in 
those days of slow communication was inadequate for any 
discussion or arrangement of the financial prerequisites, and 
a completion of the congressional legislation necessary to be 
had before the first day of June. However irritating the 
delay, and however annoying the tedious repetition of elec- 
tion, assembling of convention, and formal votes, it was evi- 
dent to the Virginia Assembly that the ground must be 
gone over again if legal formality and dignity of procedure 
was to be insisted upon. 

The fact was plain to John Marshall who, in his capacity 
of political agent of the District of Kentucky, attended the 
deliberations at Williamsburg. It is not to be doubted that 
he very sincerely sympathized in the movement for a new 
State organization, nor has it been cjuestioned that he faith- 
fully labored to that end. He yielded to the well-nigh con- 
clusive arguments of those who deemed another lesfislative 



76 The Political Beginni^igs of Kentucky. 

act necessary, and his assent, reluctantly given, brought 
about the act passed on the loth January, 1787.' 

The preamble of this act recited the hindrances that had 
frustrated the execution of the former act looking to a sep- 
aration, and the -impossibility of securing congressional 
action within the limited period. It reiterated the purpose 
of Virginia, " that the said District shall become an inde- 
pendent State on the terms and conditions of the act 
aforesaid whenever the good people thereof shall so de- 
termine and the United States in Congress shall thereof 
approve." 

It was therefore enacted that another election should be 
held in August, 1787, of delegates (five for each county), who 
should assemble at Danville on the following third Monday 
in September, 17S7, clothed with full powers to vote upon the 
former terms proposed for separation, and to fi.x them by 
their vote of approval as a binding compact between the two 
high contracting parties. 

A proviso to the act withheld sanction from such vote of 
approval unless Congress should, prior to the 4th of July, 
17S8, "assent to the erection of said District into an inde- 
pendent State; shall release this Commonwealth from all its 
federal obligations arising from said District, as being part 
thereof, and shall agree that the proposed State shall imme- 

' 12 Hilling, Statutes at Large, 240; Littell, rolitkal Transactions, Appendix No. 7. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 77 

diately after the day fixed as aforesaid, or at some convenient 
time future thereto, be admitted into the Federal Union." 

The gist of this legislation was to postpone for more than 
a year the complete organization of the new State. Instead 
of I St September, 1787, as contemplated by the first act, the 
1st January, 1789, was fixed as the earliest day. 

It is not difficult to imagine the chagrin of those who had 
labored so long and so patiently, and who, under so many 
difficulties and discouragements, had kept within all the 
tedious formalities of repeated votes, conventions, resolves, 
and memorials. The great and absolutely necessary boon of 
a separate State organization had slipped their grasp at a 
time when parent State and colony were both willing that it 
should be conferred, and the loss was aggravated by the fact 
that those Indian troubles, which only a new State govern- 
ment could adequately cope with, had withdrawn from con- 
vention the services of the men needed to take leg-al action. 

The necessity of the new measure was regretted by John 
Marshall, though he had to acquiesce in it. 

He explained the reasons that dictated its passage in a 
letter in which he stated with judicial fairness the causes 
that procured it: 

' " The act is not precisely sucli as I wished it to be, nor is it conformable to 
the resolutions of the committee before whom I appeared, but it may perhaps 
be formed on more prudent and cautious principles, on principles which 



78 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

will finally conduce more to the peace and harmony of the district, than had 
my wishes (which were to enable the present convention to decide the 
question finally) i)revailed. Those, sir, who introduced and ]5assed the law 
reasoned thus : The power delegated to the convention by the people, to 
decide upon a separation, was limited in point of time to a decision to be 
made in such time that Con;^ress might consider and determine on the ad- 
mission of your State by the first day of June, 1787 ; That an existence for 
twelve months was given for other purposes pointed out in the law; that as 
you are very much divided among yourselves, and there does not appear to 
be in the minority a disposition to submit with temper to the decision of the 
majority, and the measures of the convention, in consequence of a defect 
in the original law, would be liable to some objection, the most safe, unex- 
ceptionable, and accommodating plan is to pass a law in which the defects 
of the former act may be corrected, and which shall enable the present 
convention to sit till their term has expired, or to call immediately a new 
convention, to the decisions of which the disappointed can make no objec- 
tion." {Lilte/l, Appendix No. 7, p. 17.) 



pipst Alarm as to the j^avigation of the 
JVIississippi. 

In the same letter he notified the people of Kentucky of 
a danger that threatened them, more enduring, unless averted, 
than the evils of any war, and more fatal to the West than 
could be all the apprehended inroads of savages. He gave 
the first news of Jay's project of ceding to Spain the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi : 

" The negociation which has been opened with Spain, for ceding the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi — a negociation so dishonourable and injurious to 
America, so destructive of the natural rights of the western world — is 



The Political Beginnings of Kenttuky. 79 

warmly opposed by this country, and for this purpose the most pointed in- 
structions are given to our delegates in Congress. I persuade myself that 
this negociation will terminate in securing instead of ceding that great point." 
{Litlell, Appendi.x 8, p. 21.) 

The news thus sent to the West by John Marshall was 
con-oborated from other sources, and particularly by advices 
from the committees in Western Pennsylvania. It greatly 
alarmed all who appreciated the vital importance to Ken- 
tucky and its people of an unobstructed navigation of the 
Mississippi. 

A meeting of citizens at once convened, and in their 
behalf a circular letter was put forth over the signatures of 
George Muter, Harry Innes, John Brown, and Benjamin 
Sebastian. It bore date 29th March, 17S7.' 

The consultations preliminary to the issue of this circular 
were undoubtedly had at the weekly meetings of the Polit- 
ical Club, an association of the best talent and character of 
the District, accustomed to meet for the discussion of mat- 
ters of public interest, and, as events proved, very potent in 
shaping public opinion. Concerning this " Political Club," 
more will be said in another place, but it may be remarked 
in passing that not a little of the acrimony that entered into 
the political antagonisms ot Kentucky's earlier years had its 

' Littdl, Political Transactions, Appendix No. 8, pp. 19, 20. The text of this cir- 
cular letter is given in the Appendix. 



8o The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

origin in the social jealousies of membership or non-mem- 
bership of that Saturday-night Club, which met at Grayson's 
Tavern, in Danville, over a bowl of punch, as was the man- 
ner of the time, to exchange views upon a subject selected a 
month before, and introduced by debatants appointed to that 
duty. 

The gravity of the threatened surrender to Spain of the 
navigation of the Mississippi was too real to be neglected. 
The circular attracted immediate and earnest attention. A 
conference was had at Danville in May (as the circular letter 
suggested), but happily Virginia had already taken action 
that emphatically voiced the sentiments of the West and 
ratified the views put forth by the committee of citizens. 
There was practical unanimity throughout the District of 
Kentucky, and the parent State entirely sympathized. The 
opinion of both communities had found expression in the 
resolutions of the Virginia House of Delegates, adopted on 
the 29th November preceding, but long delayed in reaching 
the western settlements. Those who have chosen to criticise, 
and even attribute to the w'orst and most treasonable mo- 
tives the continued and unremitting anxiety and persistence 
shown by the principal Kentuckians for navigation rights 
unfettered by any superior claim, may be well answered by 
the terms of the Virginia resolution ; 



The Political Beginnings of Ketitucky. 8 1 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the free use and navigation of the west- 
ern streams and rivers of this Commonwealth and of the waters leading 
into the sea, do of right appertain to the citizens thereof, and ought to be 
considered as guaranteed to them by the laws of God and nature as well as 
compact. 

" Resolved, unanimously. That every attempt in Congress or elsewhere 
to barter away such right ought to be considered as subversive of justice, 
good faith, and the great foundations of moral rectitude, and particularly 
of the principles which gave birth to the late revolution, as well as strongly 
repugnant to all confidence in the federal government, and destructive to its 
peace, safety, happiness, and duration. 

" ResMved, That a Committee ought to be appointed to prepare instruc- 
tions to the Delegates representing this State in Congress to the foregoing 
import, and to move that honorable body to pass an act acknowledging the 
right of this State, and that it transcends their power to cede or susjjend 
them, and desiring the said delegates to lay before the General Assembly 
such transactions as have taken place respecting the cession of the western 
navigation." 

Reassured by this action on the part of Virginia, and 
strengthened by the confident expectation of speedy wel- 
come as an independent State into the confederation, the 
people of Kentucky awaited with such patience as they 
could command the elections which the new Act of Separa- 
tion had prescribed for August. It required no little for- 
bearance on the part of leading men to brook executive and 
legislative action that rebuked their most disinterested efforts 
for the public good, and fixed upon them public affronts. 

Clark had been striving with desperate valor and tenacity 
of purpose to hold Vincennes and the Illinois. Logan had 



82 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

completely seconded him, hurrying back from the Wabash to 
make an attack on the Mad River towns of the Shawnees. 
Their incredible toil, patriotic sacrifice of time and estate, 
and all their splendid services extorted nothing better than a 
chilling rebuke. No sooner had Patrick Henry vacated the 
office of Governor (in December, 1786) than the evil days be- 
gan for George Rogers Clark and the policy he represented. 

The new Governor of Virginia (Edmund Randolph) was 
quickly apprised by private letters from Kentucky that " Gen. 
George R. Clark had undertaken without authority to raise 
recruits, nominate officers, and impress provisions in the Dis- 
trict of Kentucky for the defense of the Post of Vincennes, 
and had for that purpose also seized the property of Spanish 
subjects contrary to the laws of nations."' 

Gov. Randolph gave all the offense and irritation that was 
possible in proceeding upon this apparently anonymous 
information. He wrote to Harry Innes, Attorney General 
for the District of Kentucky, adverting in very general terms 
to the complaints that had reached him, and instructing him 
in vague language "to institute the proper legal inquiries for 
indicating the infractions of the peace." 

The answer of Innes was characteristically frank. He 
showed how there was not enough of distinct direction in 
the Governor's letter to warrant any official procedure. But 

' Virginia Calendar Stale Papers, Vol. IV, p. 322, note. 



The Political Begitmings of Kentucky. 83 

he imjDroved the occasion to warn the Governor that such 
persistent neglect (both Federal and on the part of Virginia) 
to protect the Kentuckj' frontiers, coupled with complaints 
against the men who, being so neglected, protected them- 
selves, and followed by official prosecutions of leaders like 
Clark and Logan, would almost certainly drive the people of 
the West to desperation, and he added, for the Executive's 
information : 

"I have just dropped this hint to your Exc'y for matter of reflection; if 
some step is not taken for protection a Httle time will prove the truth of the 
opinion."' 

Clark wisely refused to be provoked by the instructions 
that came from the Attorney General of Virginia directing 
Innes to institute a criminal prosecution. Logan quietly 
returned to his farm after a successful campaign, and Innes 
dexterously avoided the necessity of any official action by 
reminding the Governor that the Attorney General of Vir- 
ginia had no authority to instruct Kentucky officials — the 
right to do so lay solely with the Governor. 

The public mind was thus tranquilized, and the elections 
prescribed for August (1787) were quietly held and members 
chosen, to the number of five in each county, to represent 
the people in the convention called to meet in September. 

^ Harry limes to Goz'. Randolph, 2lst July, 1787. (Virginia Calendar Stale Papers, 
Vol. IV, p. 322.) 



84 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The Convention of August, 1787. 

The sessions of the September Convention were not 
marked by excitement or debate. Unanimous declaration 
was made in favor of separation from Virginia in accordance 
with the act of the Virginia Legislature. Resolutions were 
adopted fixing 31st December, 1788, as the period of separa- 
tion, and the legislature of Virginia was requested to cause 
an inhabitant of the District to be chosen as one of her dele- 
gates in the Congress. The two peoples were in accord, the 
request was promptly granted, and Mr. John Brown (there- 
tofore a member of the Virginia Legislature as Senator from 
the counties of Kentucky) became a member of the Virginia 
delegation in the Continental Congress, specifically repre- 
senting the District of Kentucky. His long congressional 
career ran unbroken through the remaining period of the 
confederation, continued through the period between the 
adoption of the Constitution and the admission of Kentucky, 
and covered three consecutive terms as Senator from that 
State. 
T All the preliminary steps having thus been accomplished, 
the people of Kentucky felt certain of their admission to the 
Union by that formal vote of the Continental Congress 
which the Act of Separation prescribed should be passed 
prior to the ist July, 1788. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 85 

The District had now a voice in the Congress, though its 
delegate spoke as a representative from Virginia. It was 
expected that the apathy of poHticians in the Atlantic States 
might be aroused by personal appeals urged by the delegate 
from the West. Already the Congress had committed itself 
to the plan of governmental organization of the country west 
of the Alleghanies. It had passed, on 13th June, 1787, the 
since famous " Ordinance for the Government of the Terri- 
tory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio,''' and 
provided that out of the territory to which it applied there 
should be formed "not less than three nor more than five 
States." "" It boldly declared that the most western of these 
"new States"^ "should extend from the Wabash to the 
Mississippi."'' The line of Clark's conquest was assumed as 
the national boundary toward the west. The benefit of all 
his labors was appropriated, while even yet an envious cor- 
respondent was reporting to Gov. Randolph that Vincennes 
was obstinately reinforced and held against Spaniard and 
Indian by Clark "without authority." = 

That wide domain, from the Scioto to the Father of Wa- 
ters, over which the unaided valor of Virginia's sons in Ken- 



^ Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, pp. 751, 752, 753, 754. 

" Ordinance of 1787, Article 5. 

3 Ordinance of 1787, Article 4. 

■* Ordinance of 1787, Article 5. 

5 Virginia Calendar State Papers, Vol. IV, p. 322, note. 



86 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

tucky had established dominion, was readily absorbed into 
the new nation that was forming. The policy of acquisition 
toward the west was declared and conspicuously acted on, and 
its purpose was made plain. New States were to come into 
the Union already formed by the original thirteen. Their 
admission was pledged " whenever any of the said States 
shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein,'" and they 
were to come into the sisterhood "on an equal footing with 
the original States in all respects whatever."' 

And the great ordinance that so clearly outlined the prin- 
ciple of expansion in area of new States to come, and the 
great river as a boundary, had passed into a law by a vote that 
lacked only Mr. Yates, of New York, to make it unanimous.^ 

It was fairly assumed by the Kentuckians that Congress 
stood committed to the passage of the requisite enabling act 
to perfect their State organization. It was assumed that the 
long desired separate statehood would soon and smoothly 
follow. 

Inefease of Immigpation. 

The public confidence in this result was evinced by many 
marks of activity and enterprise. Immigration rapidly in- 
creased, and its tide distributed from Limestone to the Yellow 

' Ordinance of 1787, Article 5. 

'^Journal of Congress (13th July, 1787), Vol. IV, p. 754. Massachusetts was the 
only New England State represented and voting on the Ordinance of 1787, both Dane 
and Holten voting aye. The subsequent postponement (in 1788) of Kentucky's admis^ 
sion was moved by Mr. Dane, and his action caused much irritation. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 8 7 

Banks, from the Falls of the Ohio to Hazel Patch, families 
drawn from the best elements of the eastern populations. 

Increase of population had brought with it yearly accu- 
mulations of the staple products of a purely agricultural 
community. Tobacco, flour, pork, were now produced in 
quantities that represented values great enough to enrich the 
community could a market but be obtained. All eyes were 
turned toward the broad waterway of the Mississippi; for it 
was only down its current that transportation of such bulky 
freight could be had. /'As early as May, 1782, bold Jacob 
Yoder had built his great broad-horn at Redstone, on the 
Monongahela, and as a pioneer of western commerce had 
safely carried it, freighted with flour, down the Ohio and 
Mississippi to New Orleans. With the sales of his cargo 
peltries were bought that had come in tribute to the king, 
buffalo skins from remote regions beyond the post of St. 
Louis, in the northern Louisiana, and beaver from the un- 
named streams of Iowa and Wisconsin. The furs sold at 
the Havana purchased sugars that were freighted for Phila- 
delphia; and enriched with the rewards of his expedition the 
successful adventurer returned across the Alleghanies and 
past Fort Pitt to his home, where the little hamlet of Bards- 
town nestled on the banks of the Beech Fork of Salt River. 

The voyage of Jacob Yoder and its pecuniary results had 
fixed all western thought upon the riches that awaited a free 



88 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

navigation of the Mississippi and an unobstructed outlet to 
the sea. Interposing mountains and tlie adverse current of 
the Ohio prohibited carrying eastward to Atlantic marts the 
ponderous barter of the new West. Through hundreds of 
weary miles, through canebrakes and forests, lay the Wilder- 
ness Road, the only communication with Virginia, skirting the 
streams toward their sources, winding through the passes of 
the Cumberland Mountains, and threading the long furrows 
that nature has plowed from northeast to southwest between 
the ranges of the Blue Ridge. Over such a road nothing 
could be carried except within the limits of a load for a pack- 
horse. 

The people of Kentucky were plainly shut up to a single 
port and a single route to that port. The port for their 
commerce was New Orleans; the route was the river Missis- 
sippi. J 

milkinson's Scheme of Trade uiith 
JSleui Opleans. 

It needed some years devoted to securing safety and accu- 
mulating the comforts and conveniences of life to bring the 
new country to that prosperity that demanded commerce. It 
was not until 1786 that Wilkinson had practically begun his 
plan for the establishment of trade with the Spanish ports. 
Already he had made an impression upon the District by his 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 8g 

activity and intelligence. His manners were engaging, his 
oratory fervid and persuasive, and his facility as a writer aston- 
ishing. From his first appearance at Lexington, in 1784, he 
had taken an intelligent, interested, and useful part in public 
affairs. A rumor prevailed that the influence and capital of 
eastern friends supported his adventure to Kentucky, and he 
was supposed to be the spokesman of those who were con- 
trollers of opinion in New York and Philadelphia. 

He had come westward for the avowed purpose of repair- 
ing his shattered fortunes, and launched at once into mer- 
cantile speculations at Lexington. He became a member of 
the conventions that were called for the purpose of bringing 
about the severance of Kentucky from Virginia, and the 
admission of the new State into the Confederation. He pre- 
pared the memorial of the Convention of August, 1785, to 
the legislature of Virginia, as well as the address to the peo- 
ple of Kentucky put forth at the same time. He was, from 
the first, ardent in supporting the scheme of a new State, 
and consistent always in asserting that the navigation of the 
Mississippi was a right as well as a necessity. 

The mercantile operations which Wilkinson conducted 
showed in their scope and success the directing power of an 
able mind. His military career had taught him the value of 
system and the art of employing subordinates. In less than 
two years he had almost engrossed the profitable trade in 



go The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

salt, and through numerous agents bartered for otter and 
beaver skins far and near. His agents were everywhere, and 
his untiring vigilance spurred their activity. Success and 
comparative ease had already been secured by him, when he 
began in 1786 to mature a great plan for direct trade from 
the Falls of the Ohio to New Orleans and the outer world. 

The story of this commej-cial venture is important to a 
right understanding of much of the political and personal 
controversy that marked the history of Kentucky for twenty 
years. The current of narrative may profitably be inter- 
rupted to give it place. 

The intelligent mind of Wilkinson soon perceived the gain 
that would accrue from a trade in tobacco, if permission to 
introduce it within the Spanish territory could be obtained. 
Already the increasing crops of three past years had accu- 
mulated in quantities for which there was neither domestic 
demand nor an available foreign market. During the year 
1786 Wilkinson dispersed his agents throughout the Dis- 
trict, and through them introduced the hitherto unknown 
commercial feature now so familiar as "options." He readily 
secured the right to take to himself in the coming spring, 
should he choose to do so, great quantities of tobacco at 
very low prices. 

He reserved for himself the delicate and hazardous effort 
to secure for his contemplated purchases a market in Span- 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 91 

ish territory, and for this purpose made his apijearance, un- 
known and unheralded, at New Orleans in June, 1787. His 
fleet of boats had, by rare good chance or skillful negotia- 
tion, been brought safely past the upper posts that guarded 
the banks of the Mississippi, and was safely moored at its 
destination before the Spanish Governor had an intimation 
of its coming. 

The audacity and self-reliance of Wilkinson was equal to 
his really large abilities and exceptional accomplishments. 
He presented himself at once, and upon his own introduc- 
tion, to Gov. Miro, accompanied only by the corporal of the 
guard stationed at the landing place.' Within a few hours 
he had formally visited the Intendant Navarro and the Con- 
tador or revenue agent of the king. 

The superior address of Wilkinson prevailed with the 
Spanish officials. He was permitted to land and sell not less 
than $35,000 worth of produce, and to return home (taking 
ship for Philadelphia) with the profits of his voyage. 

The means to which he resorted to achieve this almost 
unhoped for success are but obscurely known. They are 
differently asserted as one or another of several estimates of 
Wilkinson have been accepted. 

For himself Wilkinson says no more than that his view 
was to promote his own fortune and to benefit his fellow 

' Wilkinson's A/emoirs, Vol. II, p. 109, 



92 The Political Beginnings of Kentiicky, 

citizens "by awakening the Spanish Government of Louis- 
iana to a just sense of its own interests, and thereby to effect 
the commercial intercourse which was indispensable to the 
prosperity of the western country." ' He half admits what 
Daniel Clark, in his communication to Timothy Pickering, 
Secretary of State, asserted in 1798, that adroit intimations 
were given as to the inflamed state of the public mind, and 
" that the people of Kentucky were already exasperated at 
the conduct of the Spaniards in seizing on the property of 
all who navigated the Mississippi, and if this system was 
pursued they would very probably, in spite of Congress and 
the Executive of the United States, take upon themselves 
to obtain the navigation of the river by force, which they 
were well able to do — a measure for some time before much 
dreaded by this [Spanish colonial] government, which had 
no force to resist them if such a plan was put into execu- 
tion."^ 

It can hardly be supposed that so ready and useful an 
argument was omitted. Traces of its use are found in very 
diverse quarters. 

Oliver Pollock, secret ascent of the Consfress durins: the 
Revolution, charged with important negotiations in pro- 
curing money and gunpowder, and on terms of confidence 

' IVilkinsons Memoirs, Vol. II, p. no. 

"Dante! Clark U Seereiary Piekcring, iSth April, 179S. This memorial is reprinted 
as Appendix 6 to Vol. II of IVilktnsoii's Memoirs. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentticky. 93 

with the officials, deposed that he had it from Gov. Miro 
that " he had consented for Gen. Wilkinson to bring down 
tobacco, in hopes to pacify the Kentuckians and people of 
the western country, to prevent a rupture between Spain and 
America, and in order to give time for negotiations between 
the two powers relative to navigation of the Mississippi."' 

That the Spanish authorities were entirely alive to the 
danger of an irregular and overpowering attack from the 
western pioneers appears from State papers emanating from 
able and judicious officials. Navarro, the Intendant, wrote to 
his government as early as 12th February, 1787: 

"The powerful enemies we have to fear in this province are not the Eng- 
lish but the Americans, whom we must oppose by active and sufficient 
measures. . . . There is no time to be lost. Mexico is on the other side of 
the Missi-isippi, in the vicinity of the already formidable establishments of 
the Americans." ^ 

Miro earnestly entreated the President of the Council of 
the Indies, in March, 1787, for an outlay of large sums in 
fortifications.^ 

^Deposition of Oliver Pollock (before a court-martial at Washington), 8th June, 1808, 
concluding paragraph. This deposition is reprinted as Appendix I to Vol. II, Wilkin- 
son^s Memoirs. It was Pollock who procured from Galvez, or with his assistance, the 
powder which Col. Gibson brought in keel boats up the Mississippi and Ohio to Fort 
Pitt, and which I, inn and Smith assisted in carrying around the portage at the Falls of 
the Ohio, in 1777. (Gayarre, History of Louisiana, Spanish Domination, 109.) 

'^ Navarro's Despatch oi 12th February, 1787. Gayarre, History Louisiana, Spanish 
Domination, 182. 

^ Miro to Marquis La Sonora, March, 1787. Gayarre, History Louisiana, Spanish 
Pmiination, 184. 



94 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

And after Wilkinson had (in Sei^tember, 1787) left New 
Orleans, the long uneasiness, doubtless newly aroused by the 
inuendos of the adventurer, drew from Navarro another and 
even more earnest appeal. 

Commenting upon what he considered the obvious de- 
cline of the Province of Louisiana, he did not hesitate to 
assign, as one of the principal reasons, the apprehensions 
produced by the threats of the Americans. He wrote thus: 

" It is necessary to keep in mind that between this province and the ter- 
ritories of New Spain there is nothing but the feeble barrier of the Missis- 
sippi, which is as easy to pass as it is impossible to protect. . .. It is an 
incontestable axiom that every remedy ought to be proportioned to the evil 
to which it is to be applied, and the danger which threatens us from the 
pro.ximity of the Americans is of such a nature thit it will soon be too late 
to ward it off, if we do not now guard against it by most efficacious meas- 
ures. Even if New Spain shouM never be the object of the ambition of 
the Americans, they ought to be for us a cause of constant distrust and 
apprehension, because they are not unaware that the river de Areas is not 
distant from New Mexico, and that there are mines in the Ouachita district. 
These are powerful motives for a nation restless, poor, ambitious, and capa- 
ble of the most daring enterprises." ' 

The mutterings that reached Natchez and New Orleans 
were true indications of the irritation that prevailed in Ken- 
tucky. Navarro rightly estimated the sentiments of the 
population that looked southward for its mart. It was a race 

^Navarro's Despatch of loth October, 17S7, as quoted by Gayam, History Louis- 
iana, Spanish Domination, pp. 189, 190. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 95 

of men inured to war, skillful in the use of arms, accustomed 
to campaigns in which the care of the quartermaster counted 
as the very least, and characterized by a singular and prac- 
tical mixture of individual self-reliance and mutual support. 
It was accurately described in Navarro's despatch as 

" Una nacion inquieta, pobre, ambiciosa, y arriscada." ' 

To this apprehension of incursion, which Wilkinson adroitly 
fanned, was added another fact that disquieted the Spaniard. 
Already John Fitch had demonstrated the principles of 
steam navigation, and by practical test upon the Delaware 
had shown that the current of great rivers could be sur- 
mounted. He had joined his old comrade of Valley Forge, 
Jacob Yoder. at Bardstown, and discoursed with him of the 
great stream of the Mississippi, and the possibility of stem- 
ming it with returning boats. His experience of 1782 led 
Yoder to flatly deny that the dream of his inventor friend 
could ever be realized in a boat propelled by any mechanism 
against the current of the great river. It was, he said, like 
darting straws against the wind.'' But Fitch, in the inter- 

^ Navarro, Despatch of loth October, 1787. 

^ Fitch and Yoder had known each other in the army. The settlement of his 
friend at Bardstown probably attracted Fitch to that place, and they remained closely 
intimate till Fitch's death. Voder's slave, Harry (who died at a great age), remembered 
Fitch well, and often related to the present writer stories of his eccentricities. Fitch's 
temperament was very variable; he was alternately elated with hope and profoundly 
depressed. He became in his later years quite intemperate. He was unmarried ; had 
simple habits and few wants, even for those simple times, and it is a mistake to suppose 
that he suffered want or neglect in his last days. His grave is at Bardstown, Ky. 



96 The Political Begin7iings of Kentucky. 

vals of his work as a surveyor, eked out with mill-building, 
became convinced that the necessary power could be applied 
through paddle-wheels, and he hastened eastward to vend a 
map of the West, which he had himself engraved, and printed 
with the rude appliances of a cider press. Supported by 
this, he devoted himself to the problem of navigation. It was 
in September, 1785, that this uncouth, intelligent, and self- 
reliant man presented himself to Gardoqui, the Agent of the 
Spanish King near the United States, and then at Philadel- 
phia. It is evident that if he had indeed then perfected his 
idea of applying steam to the propulsion of vessels, he sin- 
gularly failed to communicate it to Gardoqui, though the 
occasion would naturally have brought it under discussion. 

The intelligent account of the western country and its 
resources given by Fitch, and the maps he exhibited, enlisted 
Gardoqui's attention. The scheme of navigation by power 
applied to paddle wheels struck him as of sufficient impor- 
tance to be brought to the consideration of his government, 
and in his next despatch an account of the invention, and 
two copies of Fitch's map were sent to Spain.' 

' The Spanish Minister, Gardoqui, in his despatcli to Marquis La Sonora, President 
of the Council of the Indies, No. 19, of 3d September, 1785, writes: "By chance I 
have met a person named John Fitch, a native of these States; a landed proprietor, 
and resident in the new settlement of Kentucky, with whom I have had much conver- 
sation. I inclose two copies of map, which he has engraved, of the ten new States 
that are contemplated. ".>^In a later despatch (Xo. 30, 21st October, 1785) he adds, con- 
cerning Fitch : " From his conversation and the replies he made to my numerous inqui- 
ries, I clearly perceive that these new populations (in Kentucky) depend upon the free 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 97 

One of the two copies of Fitch's map thus transmitted 
was, along with a copy of Gardoqui's despatch, promptly 
forwarded from Madrid to Count Galvez, just promoted from 
Governor of New Orleans to the splendid rank of Viceroy 
of Mexico and Captain General of Louisiana and the Flori- 
das. The significance of the new idea was at once recog- 
nized by that truly great man, and impressed itself upon his 
subordinates, Miro, Navarro, and others, and the announce- 
ment not long delayed that Fitch had perfected his applica- 
tion of steam power confirmed the already accepted omen 
that the day was passing for occluded streams. The restless 
people of Kentucky were now furnished with the coming 
solution of their commercial isolation. 

All things were ripe for Wilkinson's fortunate experiment 
in trade. Every consideration of policy forbade confiscation 
of his goods or molestation of his person. Though he was 
but an unofficial personage, he preserved the military air of 
former service, and magnified his importance by every art of 

navigation of the Mississippi, although they are confronted by their inability to over- 
come the current, for in certain seasons of the year it is impossible The same 

person from whom I have derived this information has invented a vessel that, by means 
of a wheel fixed in its center (which, according to his explanation, resembles a Spanish 
'noria' in its plan), and worked by a horse, moves against the current." From this 
it would seem questionable whether Fitch had made his application of steam to navi- 
gation in September, 1785, else he would certainly have mentioned the fact to Gardo- 
qui. If the invention had been made he could hardly have valued it. The improve- 
ment of "navigation of boats by horses" was apparently the project of Fitch. He 
memorialized the Kentucky Legislature for aid in 1798, describing his invention in 
those words. (Joiirna!, H. R. oj Kentucky, January 12, 1798, p. 35.) 

13 



-^ 



gS The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

which he was master. It seems Ukcly that Miro was im- 
pressed with the behef that he was still the chief military 
officer of the United States in the western country." 

It can not be positively charged that the success of Wil- 
kinson's trading voyage of 1787 was promoted by bribery of 
Spanish officials. The suspicion, however, is warranted and 
fortified by the proved relations that in after years existed 
between him and Miro. 

One of the most intelligent observers then at New Or- 
leans confirms the fact as to the tobacco brought to that port 
in 1789, from the words of the Governor himself. "Gov. 
Miro told me," says he, "that if the business for supplying 
the king's stores with tobacco by Gen. Wilkinson had been 
better conducted, or more fortunately conducted, he should 
have made a great deal of money by it (or words to that 
effect) as well as Gen. Wilkinson, by which I understood 
that he (Gov. Miro) was to have a certain portion of the 
profit in the nature of a commercial transaction, and I was 
told the same by Mr. Conway, the brother-in-law of Gov. 
Miro."^ 

And at a later date (1796) Philip Nolan and Guilberto 



' Will;inson, after llie close of tlie Revolutionary War, continued in civil life until 
December, 1791. His commercial enter|irises of 1787 and later are undeserving of 
much ignorant criticism that has been leveled at them on the score of official impro- 
priety. 

^ Oliver FoUock's Dfposition, Answer No. 2. 



The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 99 

Leonard stated the accounts between Wilkinson and Miro, 
then lately dead.' 

It must, in justice to Wilkinson, be admitted that these 
accounts concern only the cargoes of tobacco shipped by 
him in 1790 and 1791, while he was yet a civilian, and while 
he was forbidden by no law or rule of propriety to engage 
in commerce. They establish the fact that Miro (as to those 
shipments) corruptly shared the profits, but they do not 
prove that Wilkinson was a pensioner of Spain. That 
charge was not established for many years. Its proof is 
from another source, and was not accessible until lone after 
Wilkinson's death. 

The conduct of Miro in sharing Wilkinson's gains, inde- 
fensible as it clearly is, was not perhaps the chief reason that 
procured his countenance of trade from the upper waters. 
The policy of attracting immigration and developing the 
colonial resources had been favored by Navarro, the Intend- 
ant, in many despatches, and Miro had distinctly adopted it 

"The letter of advice from Nolan, together with tlie itemized account, is to be seen 
in Wilkinsons Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 117, iiS, 119. Wilkinson introduced this iirouf of 
personal money accounts between himself and Miro, as evidence before a court-martial, 
for the purpose of repelling Dr. Clark's charge that he was a pensioner of Spain, and 
to show whence this money came that was sent to Kentucky in charge of Owens. An 
examination of the account shows that the transaction that brought Miro in debt to 
Wilkinson lay in tobacco shipments made by the latter in 1790 and 1791. Remittances 
were tardily made, and at Miro's death, in 1795, there was a balance due from him to 
Wilkinson of 12,095. It is but fair and right to admit that Nolan's letter, Pollock's 
deposition, and the stated account do not suggest any pension at that time, but they 
do go to prove bribery of the Spanish Governor. 



lOO The Poliiical Beginnings of Kentucky. 

in his administration, Galvez had gone to his viceroyalty, 
and was busying himself with the construction of his for- 
tress of Chapultepcc, intended, as many suspected, for the 
palace of an independent empire that he meditated. But 
the traditions of his administrative policy remained and 
prompted his successor. Miro had already relaxed the strin- 
gent regulations of settlement and commerce. 

He had given permission to a number of American Cath- 
olic families to settle in Louisiana, had encouraged immigra- 
tion from the western settlements to the Spanish possessions 
on the Mississippi and in Florida, and had reduced the duties 
on utensils, provisions, and personal effects. But however 
large and wise may have been his general views of policy, 
he soon encountered an obstacle in the direct opposition of 
Gardoqui, the Spanish Minister, resident at Philadelphia. 
Gardoqui, as has been charged (but not clearly proved),' had 
himself corrupt participation in the trade from Philadelphia 
to New Orleans, and he contemplated the establishment of 
Morgan and his colony of New Jersey settlers at New 
Madrid, on the Mississippi. The conflict of ambition and 
interest antagonized the governor and minister. 

The various and often antagonistic motives that thus 
swayed the opinions and ruled the actions of the Spanish 
authorities were all skillfully drawn to his own advantage by 

' Gayarre, History Louisiana, Spanish Domination, 1S5. 



The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. loi 

Wilkinson. He gained every point of his plans. Permis- 
sion was given him to unload his cargo. The King of Spain 
himself became its purchaser. The tobacco bought in Ken- 
tucky at $2.00 per hundred weight brought him $9.50 deliv- 
ered into the king's warehouses. A free permit to carry his 
money beyond the port was granted. 

And, more important than all, there followed Wilkinson 
to his home a permit for trade, invaluable to himself and the 
people of Kentucky. It ran thus:' 

"I, Don Stephen Miro, Colonel of the Royal Armies, Political and 
Military Governor and Intendent General of the Provinces of Louisiana 
and West Florida, and Inspector of the Troops, &c.. Sec, Grant free and 
full permission to the American Brigadier Don James Wilkinson, settled in 
Kentucky, to direct or cause to be brought into this country, by inhabitants 
of Kentucky, one or more launches belonging to him, with cargoes of the 
productions of that country. Therefore, I command all officers belonging 
to this government not to offer any iiindrance to his voyage; on the contrary 
they are to render him every assistance that may be necessary. The pres- 
ent is given signed with my hand, sealed with the seal of my arms, and 
countersigned by his Majesty's Secretary for this Government, in the City 

of New Orleans, the 8th August, 1788. 

"ESTEVAN MIRO. 

"Andres Armesto, 

"Secretary'' 

The news of Wilkinson's splendid success had preceded 
his return. In February, 178S, he reached his home in what 

'The English version here given is tliat furnibhed by the translator of the State 
Department for the use of the court-martial before which Wilkinson was arraigned. 
The original Spanish text of the permit can not be found. 



I02 The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 

is now Woodford County, hailed by the entire community 
as one whose energy and capacity had opened the Missis- 
sippi to his countrymen on terms more lionorable and toler- 
able than had been hoped by even the most hopeful. True, 
his permit for trade was but a personal privilege, and the 
expected further permit was to be no broader ; but it was soon 
explained that the cover of its protection could be extended 
to Wilkinson's friends, who might ship produce in what were 
nominally his barges, or join their boats to the fleet which 
he began to prepare against the next season." Again his 
aofents were abroad, and for the first time in the history of 
the West there was a market and specie payment for pro- 
duce. 

The importance of the long desired State organization 
became apparently greater than ever. It was justly and 
soundly argued, how much surer and firmer would be the 
commercial comity if a constituted political community were 

' Wilkinson is entitled to the praise of much public spirit in his commercial enter- 
prises. He made no secret of the advantageous privilege granted him by Miro, and 
be offered the benefit of it to the planters of Kentucky on terms that were liberal. 
Peyton Short became his partner, and they circulated a printed proposition to carry to 
New Orleans all tobacco that might be intrusted to them, stipulating as their compen- 
sation for two thirds of such price as might be realized over 15 sliillings per hundred 
pounds. The chaiges for tr.msporling were advertised as being 6 shillings from the 
Kentucky River (Frankfort), and 4 shillings and 6 pence from Louisville. These 
charges they were willing to advance if desired. This plan was plainly a most advan- 
tageous one for the farmers of Kentucky District. A copy of this proposal, addressed 
"To the Planters of the District of Kentucky," has been preserved, along witli a letter 
addressed to Isaac Shelby, wlio was desired to consider and give his approval to the 
project. (See " SluWy A/SS." in the collection of R. T. Durrett.) 



The Political Beginnings of Keiihuky. 103 

party to the agreed reciprocity, instead of having the trade 
of the entire West hang upon the capricious favor shown a 
single citizen. The right of the new State, when estab- 
lished, to deal practically with arrangements for navigation 
of the Mississippi seemed clear, for as yet the States had 
only the bond of the Articles of Confederation. 

The right of each State to lay imposts and duties was 
but slightly restricted by the Articles of Confederation of 
1777, and still existed. While the treaty-making power was, 
by the first section of Article VI, prohibited to the several 
States, the third section of the same article left open a way 
that might be utilized without violence to the letter of the 
Articles or the spirit of the Compact. By this section it was 
provided that " no State shall lay imposts or duties which 
may interfere with any stipulations in treaties entered into 
by the United States in Congress assembled with any king, 
prince, or State in pursuance of any treaties already pro- 
posed by Congress to the Courts of France and Spain." 

And by Article IX it was specifically "provided that no 
treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative 
power of the respective States shall be restrained from im- 
posing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own 
people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation 
or importation of any species of goods or commodities what- 
soever." 



I04 The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 

Article II stipulated, as the foundation of the confedera- 
tion, that "each State retains its own sovereignty, freedom, 
and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right 
which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the 
United States in Congress assembled." 

The deduction from these provisions of the Articles of 
Confederation was easy. Inasmuch as no treaty of com- 
merce and navigation had been concluded with Spain by the 
States through their Congress, there existed no impediment 
to the levy of imposts and duties upon Spanish imports by 
any State, and the Spanish intercourse might be absolutely 
prohibited by the mere action of the particular State, or fos- 
tered by its legislation. 

Massachusetts Bay or New York could exchange courte- 
sies with Spain by refraining from imposts or prohibitions, 
and, by indirection, gain advantages at the Havana. Vir- 
ginia could, without the form of a treaty, accept Spanish 
commerce on favored terms and secure a European market 
for her tobacco. In like manner could Kentucky, once sev- 
ered from the parent State, and organized as an independ- 
ent and co-equal State, relieve the imposts that Virginia 
still collected at the Falls of the Ohio and at Limestone," 

'By Virginia statute of 1784 (II Henivg, Statutes at Large, 39S. sec. 4), provision 
was made for collecting customs at the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville) and Limestone 
(Maysville). Naval officers, as the collectors of customs were called, were provided for 
those points, clothed with the same powers as "the other naval ofhcers or collectors in 



The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 105 



and enjoy the abolition by Spain of her prohibition 
against navig 
New Orleans. 



against navigation and the ruinous custom charges at 



Discussion and Adoption of the Federal 
Constitution. 

While these important local considerations of trade and 
access to the outer world occupied the minds of the people 
of Kentucky, and the prospect of their establishment as one 
of the family of States seemed assured, another measure of 
overshadowino: magnitude had been launched. The Con- 
vention of Delegates, presided over by Washington, and 
intrusted with that gravest of all political duties, had, in 
September, 1787, promulgated a draft of the Constitution, 
under which the States of the feeble confederation were to 
be welded into the more perfect union of the Republic. 

The promulgation of the " New Plan," as it was termed 
by American statesmen as well as by the agents of foreign 
courts, excited debate throughout the land. The division of 
sentiment was as grave as the subject was momentous. The 
struggle of opinion lasted in Virginia until nine States had 
already given in their adhesion. In her convention specially 

the Commonwealth." Duties were payable on rum, brandy, and other distilled spirits, 
as also on sugar and coffee at specific rales. On all other importations tlie tariff was 
ad valorem. (II Henitig, Statutes at Lar^e, I2i, 122.) Many papeis concerning such im- 
portations from Spanish territory, through the naval office at the Falls of the Ohio, are 
still preserved. 

14 



io6 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

assembled to consider the Federal Constitution, the District 
of Kentucky was represented by fourteen delegates — two 
from each of the then seven counties of Jefferson, Lincoln, 
Fayette, Nelson, Mercer, Madison, and Bourbon. Of these, 
three voted for adoption of the instrument, nine against it, 
and two did not vote.' 
I It is beyond dispute that the question of the navigation 
of the Mississippi entered largely into the formation of opin- 
ion, and apprehensions were entertained lest the rumored 
treaty negotiated between Jay and Gardoqui, surrendering 
for a term of twenty-five years all right to navigate the Mis- 
sissippi, might be ratified by the Eastern States. The argu- 
ments of Henry, Grayson, and Mason were repeated by 
Monroe, each in different phrase, predicting the loss of the 
Mississippi and the overthrow of the West and South if the 
. proposed plan of government prevailed. 

The Political Club. 

The progress of discussion in Kentucky developed some 
features of opinion that are an interesting episode in the 
story of the time. 

' Ro1)ert Breckinriilge, Rice Bullock, and Humplirey Mnrshall voted for rntifica- 
tinn. Julin Fowler, John Logan. Henry Pawling, John Steele, MatihewWalton, Thomas 
Allen, Alexander Robertson, G. Cloy, and Henry Lee, followed Patrick Henry in oppo- 
sition. William Lvine and John Edwards did not vote. (Eiliol's Dtbalcs, ed. lSj6. 
Vol. HI, pp. 604-655.) 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 107 

Allusion has already been made to the " Political Club" 
that held its Saturday-night meetings in Danville. Its de- 
bates were formal and parliamentary, and a careful secretary 
made minutes of the arguments and preserved the papers. 

The form and substance of the new Constitution was 
minutely considered by this body of frontier statesmen. 
They were, with scarce an exception, men of liberal educa- 
tion and practical experience in affairs. Their political bias 
can hardly be better estimated than by noting some of their 
comments and suggestions of amendments to the proposed 
Constitution. 

The printed copy that reached Danville was scanned line 
by line, and the concurrence or dissent of the club noted 
section by section in marginal memoranda that are yet legi- 
ble. Having closed their deliberations, after many meetings, 
the secretary, under the club's instruction, reduced to form 
what the title of the yellowed MS. declares to be 

"The Constiuition of the United States 

"of America as amended and ai)proved by the 

"Political Club." 

The separate consideration of the articles and sections 
was preceded by what is significantly labeled as the "Primary 
Resolution A." 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Club : That the Federal Con- 
stitution ought to be preceded by a Declaration of Rights, in which it should 



io8 The Political Beginnings of Kefitiuky. 

be clearly expressed that the Congress of the United States shall not have 
power by law to alter, re])eal, or change any part of the Constitution; and 
that all laws contrary to the true spirit, intent, and meaning of the same 
shall be void." 

It was the opinion of the Political Club that senators 
should be chosen for three years, and be ineligible for three 
full years after serving a term, and that the presiding officer 
of the Senate should be of its own choosing. (Art. I, Sec. 3.) 

The time, place, and manner of holding elections for sen- 
ators and representatives, it was resolved, should be pre- 
scribed only by the State legislature. (Art I, Sec. 4.) 

As to the subject of veto upon legislation (Art. I, Sec. 7), 
it was considered that bills having passed both houses should 
be presented to the President, and by him laid before an 
Executive Council and the Judges of the Supreme Court 
for their opinion, and by him, with their advice and consent, 
signed as a law or returned with their objections. With a 
foresight, as it were, of the verbal quibbles that became so 
current in 1832 and 1861, it was proposed, and the club re- 
solved, that power should be given to call forth the militia 
"to enforce obedience to the laws of the Union " in preference 
to the phrase '-to execute the laws." (Article I, Sec. 8.) 

That clause of the seventh section of Article I, which 
gives Federal jurisdiction over a contemplated District of 
Columbia and the sites of forts, arsenals, and docks, was 
voted inadmissible. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 109 

The first clause of Section 9, Article I, preventing legis- 
lation against the slave trade sooner than 180S, was bv a 
unanimous vote expunged — a significant indication of the 
general favor with which emancipation of the blacks was 
regarded in the West. 

The President, it was thought, should be ineligible to 
re-election until a full term of four years should first inter- 
vene. And the provision giving the office of Vice-President 
to the candidate next in number of votes to the President, 
was, on motion, stricken out. (Art. XI, Sec. i.) The office 
of Vice-President was in fact thought useless. 

To succeed a President removed or deceased the "eldest 
counsellor" was indicated. 

The bent of educated opinion in Kentucky was evidently 
in favor of the Federal Constitution, but insisted upon cer- 
tain necessary amendments. Thomas Allin and Matthew 
Walton, the two members of the " Political Club " who had 
seats in the Virginia Convention called to ratify or reject 
the Federal Constitution, shared the fears of Patrick Henry, 
and united in his opposition to the unamended instrument. 
The other members seem to have been, without exception, 
zealous supporters of the new plan for union and constitu- 
tional government." 

■ The list of luimes of the members of the Political Club will suggest to every one 
familiar with the early story of Kentucky a just idea of the usefulness of that body. 
Its members were Harry Innes, Samuel McDowell, Christopher Greenup, John Brown, 



I lo The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The delegate to the Continental Congress chosen by Vir- 
ginia, as especially representing the District of Kentucky, 
was John Brown.' It has been observed that he was already 
Senator from his district in the legislature of Virginia. He 
repaired to New York and took his seat in Congress, fresh 
from that patient discussion of the new Constitution in 

Thomas Toild, George Muter, Peyton Short, Thomas Speed, James Speed, ^Yillis 
CIreen, James Brown, BaUer Ewing, RoI)ert CraddocU, B. Taidiveau, Henjamin Selias- 
ti:in, William Kennedy, John Belli, Wdliam McClung, Stephen Ormsby, William 
McI 'owcll, Jiihn Ovcrlon, Tlumias Allin, Robert Doujjlierty, John Barbce, and Abra- 
ham Buford. It would not have been been possible to assemble another body within 
the district equal to these men in accomplishments, experience, and possession of pub- 
lic confidence. Their names a]ipear on every page of Kentucky's earlier liistorv. One 
only of the twenty-five deceived the people's confidence. In 1797 (and the weight of 
proof shows not till then) Sebastian, Chief Justice of the State, accepted from the 
Spanish aulhonties an annunl pension of two thousand dollars, in recogiiition of his 
personal efforts to arrange ^viodus viveitdi ^'i, to the import duties at New Orleans. He 
collected this through ordinary commercial channels, drawing drafts, and apparently 
making no effort at concealment. His moral obliquity was a curious one. He would 
not lie, but told the tiuth, to his own ruin, exactly and fuily when taxed with the fact. 
His case seems to have been one of moral Mindness, coupled with nuicli intellij^ence, 
learning, and amiability. Sebastian was ordained a minister of the Episcopal Church 
by tlie Bishop of London in 1766, and was rector of a church in Northumberland 
County, Virginia, from 1767 to the close of the Revolution. Having studied law dur- 
ing his pastorate, he came to Kentucky in 1784, succeeded Walker Daniel as Common- 
wealth's Attorney for Jefferson County. He was a member of the convention called to 
procure the separation of Kentucky from Virginia, and of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1792. From 1792 to December, iSc6, he was a Judge of the Court of Appeals. 
He resigned under legislative charges that he had since 1795 been the recipient of an 
annual pension of two thousand dollars from Spain. His admission of the fact exists 
in his own handwriting; but he totally failed to appreciate the criminality of the act. 
He even attempted to justify his course. He lived until 1834. 

The p.i]iers of the I'oliiical Club were recently discovered by Capt. Thomas 
Speed, grandson of its secretary, and are in his possession. It is expected that they 
will be publislied with notes and illustrative comments as a paper of the Filson Club, 
under Capt. Speed's editorship. 

' October 31, 1787, Cyrus Grifiin. John Brown, James Madison, John Dawson. Mann 
Page chosen delegates. (Virginia CaUndar Stale Papers, Vol. IV, p. 504.) Brown suc- 
ceeded Monroe in the delegation. 



The Political Beginnings of Keiitucky. 1 1 1 

which the Political Club at Danville had been eneasfed, and 
in which he was one of the principal debatants, and earnestly 
impressed with the wisdom and necessity of immediately 
adopting it. The convictions which he entertained were 
undoubtedly fortified by the concurrent opinion of those 
whose intimacy he had shared for years, and who by com- 
mon consent contributed largely to the formation of political 
thought. His Revolutionary service had been that of a 
youth, quitting his college (Princeton) at the age of nine- 
teen, upon John Witherspoon's certificate of leave and 
approbation, to serve as volunteer aide to Lafayette. His 
reading had been chiefly directed by Jefferson, whose per- 
sonal friendship he enjoyed, and a constant correspondence 
continued between them. With Madison, six years his sen- 
ior, an even closer intimacy subsisted, for their academic 
associations were the same, and their personal contact fre- 
quent. Jefferson was at Paris, yet losing no point of the 
condition of affairs at home. Madison was busy in the 
great effort to ratify the Constitution he had helped to frame. 
With each of them Brown was in cordial agreement, and 
with Madison in constant and intimate consultation. There 
is a picture of the times and of the hopes and fears then 
entertained in their correspondence, rescued after an hun- 
dred years from the oblivion into which it had passed. 

Brown promptly wrote to Jefferson concerning the pro- 



112 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

posed Federal Constitution, and his selection as a delegate 
to Congress. He imparted very freely his anxieties con- 
cerning the occlusion of the Mississippi, his hopes for a 
stable union of the States, and his intent to aid all efforts in 
that direction. 

The tenor of Jefferson's replies may be illustrated by a 
single letter: 

"Paris, May 28, 1788. 
"Dear Sir: 

" It was with great pleasure I saw your name on the roll of Delegates, 
but I did not know you had actually come on to New York till Mr. Para- 
dise informed me of it. Your removal from Carolina to Kentucky was not 
an indifferent event to me. I wish to see that country in the hands of peo- 
ple well-disposed, who know the value of the connection between that & 
Maritime States, and who wish to cultivate it. I consider their happiness 
as bound up together, and that every measure should be taken which may 
draw the bands of Union tighter; it will be an efficacious one to receive them 
into Congress, as I perceive they are about to desire, if tn this be added an 
honest and disinterested conduct in Congress as to everything relating to 
them we may hope for a perfect harmony — the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi was perhaps the strongest trial to which the justice of the federal gov- 
ernment could be put. if ever they thought wrong about it, I trust they 
have got to rights. I should think it proper for the Western Country to 
defer pushing their right to that navigation to extremity as long as they can 
do without it tolerably; but that the moment it becomes absolutely necessary 
for them, it will become the duty of the maritime states to push it to every 
extremity to which they would their own right of navigating the Chesapeak, 
the Delaware, the Hudson, or any other water; a time of peace will not be 
the surest for obtaining this object. Those, therefore, who have influence 
in the new country would act wisely to endeavor to keep things quiet till 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 1 3 

the Western parts of Europe shall be engaged in war. notwithstanding 
the aversion of the courts of London & Versailles to war, it is not certain 
that some incident may not engage them in it. England, France, Spain, 
Russia, Sweden, & Denmark will all have fleets at sea, or ready to put to 
sea immediately, who can answer for the prudence of their officers? War 
is tlieir interest; even their courts are pacific from impotence only, not from 
disposition. I wish to heaven that our new government may see the im- 
portance of putting themselves immediately into a respectable position ; to 
make provision for the speedy payment of their foreign debts will be the 
first operation necessary. This will give them credit. A concomitant one 
should be magazines & manufactures of arms, this country is at present 
in a crisis of very uncertain issue, I am in hopes it will be a favorable one 
to the rights & happiness of the people; and that this will take place 
quietly, small changes in the late regulations will render them wholly good, 
the campaign opens between the Turks and the two empires with an aspect 
rather favorable to the former, the Russians seem not yet thawed from the 
winter's torpitude. they have no army yet in motion, and the Emperor has 
been worsted in two-thirds of the small actions which they have had as yet. 
he is said to be rather retiring. I do not think, however, that the success 
of the Turks in the partisan affairs which have taken place can authorize 
us to presume that they will be superior also in great decisions, their want 
of discipline and skill in military manoeuvers is of little consequence in 
small engagements & of great in larger ones, their grand army vvas at 
Adrianople by the last accounts, and to get from thence to Belgrade will 
require a month, it will be that time at least then before we can have any 
very interesting news from them — in the meantime the plague rages at Con- 
stantinople to a terrible degree. I can not think but that it would be desir- 
able to all commercial nations to have that nation & all its dependencies 
driven from the sea-coast into the interior i)arts of Asia & Africa. What a 
field would thus be restored to commerce? the finest parts of the old world 
are now dead in a great degree to commerce, the arts, to science & to society. 
Greece, Syria, Egypt, & the northern coast of Africa constituted the whole 
world almost for the Romans, and to us they are scarcely known, scarcely 

15 



r 



114 The Political Bcgi^iniiigs of Kentucky. 

accessible at all — the present summer will enable us to judge what turn this 
contest will take. 

" I am greatly anxious to hear that nine states accept our new constitu- 
tion. We must be contented to accept of its good, and to cure what is 
evil in it hereafter. It seems necessary for our happiness at home; I am 
sure it is so for our respectability abroad. I shall at all times be glad to 
hear from you, from New York, from Kentucky, or whatever region of the 
earth you inhabit, being with sentiments of very sincere esteem & attach- 
ment, Dear Sir, 

" Your friend & servant, 

" The honble " TH. JEFFERSON. 

"John Brown, Esq." 

The sentiments avowed by Brown, and because of which 
he had been returned as a delegate to Congress, revived and 
strengthened the old confidential relations between himself 
and Madison. The latter returned from New York to Vir- 
ginia to supervise the campaign for the adoption of the new 
Constitution and assist in the return of members to the Vir- 
ginia convention called to pass upon the question of rati- 
fication. 

The elections were ordered for April. The intervening 
time was full of activity and anxiety. Brown's advices from 
home were that Kentucky would choose delegates favoring 
ratification. Madison wrote him that the outlook was favor- 
able, but that he had reason to think that the former unan- 
imity in Kentucky was being disturbed by objectors.' Innes 

^Madison to Brown, 9th April, 178S, MS. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 1 5 

wrote hopefully to his brother, the Attorney General of Vir- 
ginia. The result of the elections was a disappointment in 
two ways. The friends of the new Constitution had largely 
relied on the votes of Kentucky to give them a majority, and 
had distrusted their chances of success in the counties of 
Virginia where Patrick Henry, William Grayson, Benjamin 
Harrison, and George Mason championed the opposition. 
The opponents of the Constitution relied on the Virginia 
vote, and especially the counties along the Blue Ridge. They 
took little heed of the delegation from Kentucky. 

As the returns came in, the anxiety of each party in- 
creased, for all calculations were at fault. Madison gained 
hope for the cause that had seemed desperate. His first let- 
ter to Brown after the returns began to come in has recently 
come to liffht. It is as follows : 



*J3' 



<^£,ear Sir: " ORANGE, April 9, 1788. 

" The returns of our elections as far as they are published have raised 
somewhat the hopes of the friends of the Constitution. Those who are 
best informed think the adverse party will be outnumbered at the start. It 
seems pretty clear now that in point of character the advantage will be on 
the federal side. The three chancellors are elected and are to be included 
in the description. So are Innes, Marshall, Nicholas, Corbin, Ga. Jones, 
Zach'y Johnson, Stuart, White, Walter Jones, and probably a number of 
others in counties not yet heard from. The principal characters on the 
opposite side are only Henry, Mason, Harrison, Tyler, & Mr. Smith, who 
will be reinforced by a few secondary characters of some influence. I say 
nothing of the Governor ; because it is not yet certain which party will 



1 1 6 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

have most of liis aid, nor of Monroe, whose precise sentiments are not gen- 
erally known. If I mistake not, he will be found not an enemy to the 
Constitution. A good deal may depend on the vote of Kentucky on the 
question. I have taken the liberty of stating to several gentlemen in that 
quarter my opinion that the constitutional impediments to improper meas- 
ures relating to the Mississippi will be greater as well as the pretexts for 
them less under the new than the existing system ; and that the former 
alone can promise any effectual measures either in favor of that object, or 
of a dispossession of the English of the posts, an object of still more im- 
mediate consequence perhaps to the District. I understand that hitherto 
the people there have been friendly to the Constitution. According to cur- 
rent report, a division of opinions is extending itself to them. I have not 
heard much from the counties on the western side of the Alleghany. The 
counties between that and the Blue Ridge have, without an exception I 
believe, elected federal members. The main body of the antifederalists 
lies, as was conjectured, on the south side of James River. There appears, 
however, to be much less unanimity even there than was feared. Very low 
down the counties have chosen federalists. 

"Present my compliments to the family if you please, and particularly 
to Gen'l Irvine & Col. Reed, if they be still a part of it. 
" With very sincere esteem and regard, I am. Dear Sir, 

"Your ob't friend & serv't," 

"J'S. MADISON, Jr." 

The news from Kentucky, that her fourteen delegates 
were unfriendly to the Constitution, was quickly communi- 
cated by Brown from New York to Madison, still at his home 
in Virginia. J In the same letter was conveyed a request from 
Brown that Madison should prepare a sketch for a Constitu- 

' Madison to Brmvn, gth April, 17SS, MS. The original MS. is in the writer's pos- 
session. 



-^ 



Tlie Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 1 7 

tion of the new State of Kentucky, already provided for, as 
has been seen, now awaiting only formal admission to the 
Union by vote of the Congress. 

On the eve of the assembling of the Virginia Convention 
Madison wrote in reply as follows: 

"Dear Sir: "Orange, May 27, 1788. 

" I am much obliged by your favor of the i2tli instant, and particularly 
by the documents covered by it. 

"Similar information to that you recite from Kentucky had reached us 
from the same quarter. Having not heard of the meeting for instructions 
being actually held, I indulge some hopes that it may not have taken place, 
and that the delegates will bring to the Convention no other fetters than 
those of prejudice. I have endeavored to calculate with as much accuracy 
as possible the comparative merit of the new & old system in relation to the 
Mississippi, and cannot but persuade myself that if the vote of Kentucky 
should turn on that point her intelligent & candid friends will embrace the 
Constitution. There are considerations both of a general nature and pecu- 
liar to the Western interest, which, in my opinion, recommend the same 
policy. It gives me a great deal of pleasure and no small hopes to find 
that you view the matter in the same light that I do, and that the confidence 
reposed in your judgment on the question by the members from that district 
will be made use of on the side wished by the federalists. The unfortunate 
turn given to the Kentucky elections has not yet extinguished the hopes of 
this part of the community, nor the fears of their rivals. The calculations 
which are generally made leave rather a balance, but a very minute one, on 
the federal scale, after adding Kentucky to the opposite one. But the issue 
must be somewhat uncertain where the data are. so far from being clear & 
precise and the calculations so nice & tickleish. 

" I am anxious that the decision of Congress on the subject of Ken- 
tucky may be speedy and conciliatory. It will co-operate persuasively with 



L 



1 1 8 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

the arguments and with the delegates from that Quarter, and in my opinion is 
in every respect desirable. The request made on the subject of constitution 
for the new state needed no apology. Nothing would give me more pleas- 
ure than to throw in my ideas towards so miportant a work were it within 
the compass of practicability. But under present circumstances I can 
promise nothing of that sort. I did not receive your letter till the day 
before yesterday; I have been occupied with company and other matters 
since, and shall not have a moment's leisure before I set off for Richmond. 
At that place I shall not probably be able to attend to any subject distinct 
from the one under deliberation. By the end of the convention, if no 
other difficulties were in the way, the season would be past. Had I rec'd 
your letter ten days sooner I would at least have attempted some outlines. 
I shall have an opportunity in Richm'd of conversing with the members 
from Kentucky; and if this subject sho'd be introduced I shall be very 
ready to suggest hints that may occur. 

" With sincere esteem and regard I am, Dr Sr, 

" Yrs affec'y, 

"J. MADISON, Jr. 
" Give my regards to Col. Carrington, to whom I s'd write, had I any 
thing worth saying to him. Give them also to Mr. Elsworth & Mr. Harmar 
and the rest of the family, if it retains any other of my acquaintance." ' 

And so Madison went off to attend the convention at 
Richmond, and Brown addressed himself to the task of get- 
ting passed through Congress the measure admitting Ken- 
tucy to the Union, and which since March had been stifled 
in committee." 

The vote by which Virginia, and with it the District of 

'^Madison to Broivn, 27th May, 1788, MS. The original MS. is in the writer's pos- 
session. 

''Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, pp. 811-S19. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentticky. 119 

Kentucky, adopted the Federal Constitution, did not pass 
until 26th June, 1788. 

The debates in convention were earnest and impassioned 
throughout its session. The opponents of the Federal Con- 
stitution insisted that its ratification would be followed by a 
surrender of the Mississippi, and studiously kept alive the 
apprehensions of the Kentuckians. They prophesied, too. 
that a renewed union of Church and State was inevitable, 
and especially aroused the alarm of the Baptists, now grown 
numerous, with obscure suggestions that times were to be 
once more as they were before the statute of religious equality. 
Behind these false fears were the potent names of Henry, 
Lee, Grayson, and Harrison, strenuously objecting on more 
solid grounds to the unamended Constitution.' 

The efforts of the friends of the proposed Constitution 
were equally strenuous. The debate led by Madison and 
Pendleton was, as Bancroft observes, "well seconded by 
George Nicholas, John Marshall, James Innes, Henry Lee, 
and Francis Corbin."= Their correspondence was incessant 
with those who could aid in forming public opinion or en- 
forcing the arguments they suggested, or counteracting the 
suggestions that inflamed popular alarm. George Nicholas 

' The general estimate of Patrick Henry's statesmanship will be higher when the 
fact is recognized that ten of the twelve imperfections which he attributed to the Fed- 
eral Constitution were admitted, and were cured by immediate amendment. (See Tyler's 
Patrick Henry, 3 1 6.1 

^ Bancro/l, History of the Constitution, Vol. II, p. 315. 



1 20 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

had not yet made Kentucky his home, but relatives and 
friends had preceded him thither, and these he pUed with all 
his arguments. James Innes was in constant correspond- 
ence with his brother, Harry Innes, at Danville, and kept 
him informed of all that was done, and of all the hopes and 
fears of the friends of the Constitution. John Marshall had 
been the agent of the District of Kentucky before the legis- 
lature of Virginia, and he, it seems, consulted with Samuel 
McDowell, the stated chairman of the Kentucky conven- 
tions. 

The embarrassments of the Spanish Minister, Gardoqui, 
meantime, were very serious. His perislexities daily increased. 
He labored under difficulties that might well have caused 
him to despair of success in his diplomacy, even had its 
direct objective point been well settled in his own mind or 
indicated by his government. Copies of Gardoqui's dis- 
patches to his government and of the communications be- 
tween him and Galvez, Cespides, and Miro, during the entire 
period of his mission, have been recently permitted to be 
made from the originals in the royal archives. Among them 
are the secret papers intended only for the private inspection 
of the King and Count Floridablanca.' 

'lion. J. L. M. Curry, Minister of the United St.ites to the Court of Spain, most 
obligingly induced the Spanish authorities to permit copies to be talicn for the writer 
of this paper. The documents are voluminous, filling six MS. volumes. In point of 
ability they are disappointing; nor is the hi.-.torical light they slu-d proportioned to 
their bulk. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 2 1 

How ill-digested was Gardoqui's plan — if plan it can be 
called — is best seen from these. 

The ill success of the first project of treaty sketched 
by Jay and Gardoqui disconcerted the Spanish envoy. 
He had come to America fully imbued with that idea, 
which he frequently cited as being fundamental in 
Spanish policy, that the commerce of the king's colo- 
nial possessions must be inexorably interdicted to all for- 
eigners. 

The application of this doctrine to the navigation of 
the Mississippi would clearly exclude the inhabitants of 
the West, those about the sources of the Ohio, those 
whose fortunes were cast in the Marietta colony, the 
Kentuckians, and the frontiersmen of Frankland and 
Cumberland, from access with their products to the 
outer world. 

The alarm sounded by Muter, Brown, Innes, and Sebas- 
tian," in their circular letter of 29th March, 1787, had de- 
feated the scheme of relinquishing for the space of twenty- 
five years all claim on the part of the United States of 
right to navigate the river to the Gulf. 

Brown, representing Kentucky as a Senator in the Vir- 
ginia Assembly, procured from it the emphatic declaration 
of 26th November, 1786, already mentioned: 

^ LitUlCs Political Transactions, Appendix VIII, No. 2, p. 19. 
16 



1 2 2 TJie Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

" Resolved unanimously, That the free use and navigation of the west- 
ern streams and rivers of this Commonwealth, and of the waters leading 
into the sea, do of right appertain to the citizens thereof, and ought to be 
considered as guaranteed to them by the laws of God and nature as well as 
compact." 

Congress at a later date took cognizance of the rumor, 
upon motion of the delegates from North Carolina, and put 
a stop to all negotiations with Spain, declaring by resolution 
that the report of an intent or disposition to surrender claim 
to the navigation of the Mississippi was not founded on fact, 
and that the delegates were at liberty to make public all cir- 
cumstances of the negotiations. By further vote it adopted 
the report of its committee, Madison, Hamilton, William- 
son, and Dane,' and 

" Resolved, That the free navigation of the river Mississippi is a clear 
and essential right of the United States, and that the same ought to be con- 
sidered and supported as such. 

" Resolved, That no further progress be made in the negotiations with 
Spain by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs ; but that the subject to which 
they relate be referred to the federal government which is to assemble in 
March next." " 

The Spanish Minister found himself environed with dif- 
ficulties that threatened a failure of all diplomatic arrange- 

' Gaidoijui to Floridahlanca, No. 306, 24th October, 1788; Madison to Brcnun, MS., 
26th September, 1788. 

-The resolutions, as we!) as an excellent preliminary sketch of the respective atti- 
tudes of Gardoqui and J.iy, and a statement of the Spanish claim are to be found in 
Triscot, Diplomatic History, 49. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. i 2 3 

ments. The settled policy of his government and its con- 
stantly asserted claim of sovereignty over the Mississippi 
alike forbade a concession by treaty of the right of naviga- 
tion. His own course for the past three years had committed 
him fully to that position, and Spanish pride barred any re- 
consideration. But he was confronted with dangers of armed 
movement in the west against Natchez, New Orleans, and 
perhaps even against New Mexico,' a danger imminent and 
serious, and likely to result in loss of territory and prestige, 
as Navarro had already so forcibly demonstrated in his dis- 
patches.' Clark and his Kentucky troops had already seized 
Spanish posts and confiscated Spanish munitions.^ The 
English, still supposing that the sources of the Mississippi 
lay north of the boundaries defined by their treaty with the 
United States, showed every disposition to assert for their 
trade a right of water transportation to the Gulf of Mexico, 

' Gardoquito CespiJes, 1st August, 1787: "La arrogancia y liberdad con que ulti- 
mamente se han explicado, en gazetas y cartas, los habitantes de los nuevos establici 
mientos sobre las orillas del Ohio y imediaciones al Misisipi me obligan a reiteiar lo 
mucho que dicta la prudencia, el que todas nuestras fronteras se pongan en estado de 
mayor respecto." 

^Gardoqui had already ascertained Washinglon's views of the situation of affairs 
in the West, and had advised his government of the collision that Washington feared. 
He quotes Washington as saying of the frontiersmen in effect that they were bold, 
strong, and insubordinate, and likely to exact what they reckoned a right whether 
accorded by Spain or denied: "La emigracion a aquel rio es asombrosa, especialmente 
de aquellas classes de gentes que no estan muy subordinadas a la ley y buen gobernio. 
Que la prohivicion de la corte de Espana sea justa o injusta politica, o de otra manera, 
no sera facil contener a esta clase de gentes el que se priben del goce de suo utilidades 
naturales." (Gardoqtii to Galvet, 23d August, 1785.) 

3 Gardoqui to Floridabtanca, confidential No. 16, I2th May, 17S7: " Se han apode- 
rado del Fuerte o Puesto San Vincent y continuan robos y otros desordenes," 



1 24 The Political Begi^inings of Kaitucky. 

and it was not difficult to see that they might foment the 
American claim, or even assist it, in the hope of their own 
advantage. And the Governor of Louisiana had already 
given a seeming acquiescence to the American claim by 
the trade permit which Wilkinson held. 

The express resolution of Virginia and the debates in 
her convention, together with the general evidence of popu- 
lar opinion, demonstrated that the right to navigate the Mis- 
sissippi would never be surrendered by separate communities 
or the united Commonwealths. 

Moreover, the Spanish officials were at cross -purposes. 
The governing mind of Galvez no longer exercised the wise 
control of former years. He had gone to his viceroyalty of 
Mexico. Jealousies sprang up and increased between Miro 
and Gardoqui, and it is not clear that the clash of pecuniary 
interest did not make them mistrust one another. 



The Colony of \iz\xx JVIadpid. 

In this dilemma Gardoqui resolved to adopt a plan that 
promised, if not a solution of the problem, at least a post- 
ponement to more favorable times of that irritating question, 
the export of western produce down the Mississippi. 

He hit upon the expedient of a free port upon the banks 
of the Mississippi, where a colony of Americans established 



The Political Beginnings of Keyitucky. 125 

in the king's territory might intervene between the distinctly 
separated and antagonistic communities to its north and 
south. 

It was this modus vivendi that brought about the founding 
of New Madrid by Morgan and his New Jersey colonists. 

Col. George Morgan, after serving through the Revolu- 
tionary War, had resumed his residence near Princeton, New 
Jersey. His earlier life had been one of adventure. He had 
wandered as far west as Kaskaskia many years before the 
Revolutionary War, and he and his father-in-law had vaguely 
located an immense land claim in that vicinity." He re- 
tained his love for frontier life. His education was liberal 
and his talents good, but he was an inveterate speculator, had 
twice been bankrupt, and was then in straitened circum- 
stances. He conceived the idea of planting a colony upon 
his old British grant of land including Cahokia and Kaskas- 
kia, and for the confirmation of it he petitioned the Conti- 
nental Congress. In urging his scheme upon the members 
of Congress, Morgan spent much of the earlier portion of 
the year 1788 in New York. The committee charged with 
consideration of his plan reported to Congress' some very 

' Morgan and his father-in-law, Buynlon, together with Wharton, were trading from 
Fort Pitt to Kasliaskia and its vicinity in 1766. They are frequently mentioned by 
Matthew Clarkson in his journal of a trip made in that year from Philadelphia to Kas- 
kaskia. An imperfect copy of this journal is given by Schoolcraft. (Indian Tribes, 
Vol. IV, p. 265.) A perfect MS. copy is in Col. Durrett's collection. 

''Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 8^3, 20th June, 1788. 



126 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

necessary modifications looking to the protection of the 
titles of such as already held lands derived from old French 
grants within his demarkation. Legislation moved slowly, 
the more so because the old system was on the eve of its 
dissolution, and there was a general feeling that important 
matters should be remitted as far as could be to the action of 
the new Conarress that was to convene in the coming: March 
under the Federal Constitution. 

The reckless speculator, with characteristic impatience, 
abandoned his application to Congress and speedily con- 
cluded an arrangement with Gardoqui. 

The Spanish Minister had seen much of Morgan and was 
greatly impressed with his activity and intelligence, and the 
general esteem shown him by leading men. He avowedly 
abandoned in this case his favorite maxim that every man 
should be distrusted, and (as he afterward wrote to his gov- 
ernment) admitted that he gave to Morgan his entire con- 
fidence." 

The plan of a colony within the Spanish territory had 
been discussed (as may be inferred) between Gardoqui and 
Morgan about the beginning of the year 1788; for before 
the summer had passed the general subject of attracting 

' "Confieso a V. E. ingenuamente que partiendo sobre el principio de disconfiar de 
todos, si algun sujeto me merece algun credito, es este de quien trato, por que su carac- 
ter de honorado y habil lo confirman todos a una voz." (Gardoqui to Floiidablanca, 
|4o. 296, 24th October, 17S8.) 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 127 

American settlers had been presented to his government by 
Gardoqui, and such indications of the royal opinion received 
as made him confident of the approval which he afterward 
received. 

The proposition of Morgan contemplated a grant to him 
and his associates of an immense body of land on the west 
bank of the Mississippi River, extending back and westward 
through two degrees of longitude, and having a river front 
from Cape Cinque Hommes to the mouth of the St. Francis. 
Within this territory the empresario was to plant thousands 
of laborers, farmers, and artisans, and to found the town of 
New Madrid. 

Aside from the provisions for personal recompense to the 
leading adventurers, which occupy most of the long and 
formal plans of colonization, there were two or three features 
that met the present complication of political affairs. It was 
stipulated that the colonists, if they located within Spanish 
territory, must take an oath of fealty to the King; on the 
other hand, they were assured religious toleration, right of 
unobstructed commerce, and freedom -from all disturbance in 
their navigation of the Mississippi." 

The arrangement was announced in October, 1788, though 

' "Con la libre tolerancia de religion, y sin ser molestados en la navigacion del rio 
Misisipi, con el fin de hallar un marcado libre de direcho para los de sus tierras." 
(Morgan's accepted plan as reported by Gardoqui to Floridailanca, No. 296, 24th Octo- 
tober, 1788.) 



12 8 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

it had been long before canvassed and the conclusion 
reached by Gardoqui that he would proceed in some such 
manner. 

The arguments adduced to show how great a safeguard 
such a colony would be, and how the violence of the Ken- 
tuckians would be restrained by Morgan's settlement, were 
illusive, but Gardoqui wished to believe them, and his gov- 
ernment was quite ready to be convinced. Equally fallacious 
was the pretense that the American settlement established at 
New Madrid would secure to Spain an exclusive use of the 
Lower Mississippi, and it is hardly to be supposed that Gar- 
doqui really expected the products of Kentucky and Ohio to 
be arrested in their voyage down the rivers by so attractive 
an obstacle as a free port' 

To the eye of Wilkinson and of Miro, sharpened by self- 
interest, it was plain that the scheme of Morgan was disas- 
trous to their plan of trade. 

The scheme of a free port seemed to them especially 
objectionable, for it tended to destroy the value of permits 
and to undermine the importance of the trader who enjoyed 
the Governor's favor. With the establishment of New Mad- 
rid Morgan would become the controller of the commerce of 
the West, licensed by the royal grant to carry his bargains 

'"Puerto libre a! que el se ha propuesto llamar Nuevo Madrid." (Gardoqui to 
Floridablanca, No. 306, 24th December, 1788.) 



The Political Beginnings of Ke7ihccky. 1 29 

free past New Orleans to the outer world. Wilkinson be- 
sought Miro to discourage Morgan's enterprise in all possi- 
ble ways. He wrote that : 

"In a political point of view Morgan's establishment can produce no 
good result, but, on the contrary, will have most pernicious consequences; 
because the Americans who may settle there will, on account of their prox- 
imity to and their constant intercourse with their countrymen on this side 
of the river, retain their old prejudices and feelings, and will continue to 
be Americans as if they were on the banks of the Ohio. On the other side, 
the intention of detaining the productions of this vast country at a point 
so distant from their real market, whilst the Americans remain the carriers 
of that trade, can not fail to cause discontents and to embroil the two 
countries in difficulties. Probably it will destroy the noble fabric of which 
we have laid out the foundations and which we are endeavoring to com- 
plete. If it be deemed necessary to keep the Americans at a distance from 
Louisiana, let the Spaniards at least be the carriers of the produce they 
receive in their ports, and of the merchandise which is acceptable to the 
Americans." ' 

The tendency of affairs, however, seemed to jeave little 
room for freedom of action on Gardoqui's part, had he indeed 
doubted the wisdom of contractinor with Moraan. 

CD O 

Baron Steuben had submitted to him a plan of coloniza- 
tion, under which it was proposed to locate four thousand 
two hundred agriculturists and artisans on the banks of the 
Mississippi, stipulating for a grant of two million acres, with 

" Wilkinson to Miro, 29th February, 1789. Gayarre, History of Louisiana, Spa>t!sk 
Domination, 244. 

17 



1 30 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

privilege of religious toleration to the colonists and right 
to local government under the general authority of 
Spain." 

George Rogers Clark had also forwarded from the Falls 
of the Ohio, under date of 15th March, 1788, and by the 
hand of Maj. John Rogers, a similar plan, which he supposed 
to be the first suggestion of the kind. He wished a grant 
of land, extending from the thirty-sixth to the thirty-eighth 
desfree of latitude, and measurinaf back westward from the 
confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi two degrees of longi- 
tude. Upon such territory he was willing to plant colonists, 
giving out of the general tract one thousand acres to each 
family; the King to assure religious toleration, and to name 
the local Governor.' 

Gardoqui had also long ago heard of Tardiveau and his 
scheme of trade between the settlements in Kentucky and 
the port of New Orleans. As early as July, 1787, he had 
informed Floridablanca on this point: 

"Subsiste un sujeto de la misma nacion en Danville (pueblo de Ken- 
tucky), caballero de San Luis, que viva con esplendor y gasta bastante, que 
la voz general lo cuenta sostenido por su gobernio. Pretendio bajar el Mis- 

' The entire correspondence with Steuben, and a translation into Spanish of his 
proposals for colonization is given by Gardoqui. (GarJoqui lo Floridablanca, No. 252, 
i8ih April, 1788.) 

'The letter of Clark and his plan for a colony is given in the despatch of Gardoqui 
to Floridablanca, No. 282, 25th July, 1788. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. \ 3 1 

isipi y pasar al Nuevo Orleans, pero se lo negue con buen modo y estoy 
siguiendo sus pasos, aunque es casi imposible a tanta distancia y sin com- 



The importance of Tardiveau, evanescent as it was, in- 
creased when Pierre Wower d'Arges' came to Kentucky on 
a secret mission from Gardoqui to organize a scheme of col- 
onization upon the Lower Mississippi. Those whom he 
might induce to remove from Kentucky were to be promised 
liberal grants of land, free right of importing slaves, imple- 
ments, and other property during two years, free enjoyment 
of their religion, and an implied guaranty against customs 
imposts exceeding fifteen per cent.^ D'Arges led Gardoqui 
to believe that no less than one thousand five hundred and 
eighty-two Kentucky families" would be induced to come 
into his plan, and that his potent argument would be the 

■ Gardoqui to Floridablanca, confidential, No. 17, l6tli July, 1787. The importance 
and wiahli of Tardiveau was entirely overestimated by Gardoqui. He was an intelli- 
gent, enterprising Frenchman who sought fortune in the West. While residing at Dan- 
ville he was a member of the Political Club, and seems to have been respected and es- 
teemed. His earlier history is unknown. He is thought to have removed to Louisiana. 

In a document styled "Observations upon the Colony of Kentucky," presumably 
from Connolly's pen, inclosed in Lord Dorchester's despatch to Lord Sydney, No. 
126, 27th August, 1789, it is said: " Lacassang & Co., at Louisville, and Tardezvaus, at 
Danville, are mercantile houses of note in the interest of France. The latter carried 
on trade from Bordeaux to the States during the war, and are supposed to have been 
prisoners at Halifax." This paper will be found in the appendix. 

"Frequently called Wouvrcs. 

^Perkins, Western Annals. 486, says 15 per cent; Gayarre, History of Louisiana, 
Spanish Domiiiati n, 197, puts it at 25 per cent, but Miro wrote Wilkinson that the duty 
was to be a uniform rate of 15 per cent. [Gayarre, 255.) 

■• Gayarre, Histor)' of Louisiana, Spanish Domination, 20I. 



132 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

right of trade with New Orleans. It seems incredible 
that such a migration should have been thought possible. 
D'Arges, who spent some months at the Falls of the Ohio, 
had no apparent occupation beyond the amusement of a 
naturalist. He formed the acquaintance of Tardiveau, and 
the latter, fired with the possibilities of land speculation, 
sought Gardoqui with professions of his ability to colonize, 
and succeeded in enlisting the Count de Moustier, French 
Envoy, in his behalf' It was discovered by Gardoqui that 
Tardiveau had two years before represented to the French 
Home Government the obvious advantages that would follow 
an occupation by France of New Orleans and Louisiana, 
and had suggested the seizure." By this discovery fresh 
alarm for the Spanish* territory was aroused. And withal 
American immigration continued to flow toward the Ohio 
Valley. The founders of Marietta were already on their 
way, under Cutler and Whipple, to found a new New Eng- 
land at the mouth of the Muskingum and reinforce the 
march of the great West. 

Perplexed by these complications, Gardoqui gladly availed 
himself of the royal permission to close with Morgan. 

From that moment the foothold of Spain in North Amer- 
ica was destroyed. Time only was required to finish the 

' Gr.rdoqui to Fhridablanca, Xo. 314, 4th March. 1789. 

° Gardoqui to Floridablanca, Secret Despatch No. 19, nth April, 1788. 



TJie Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 133 

work of American encroachment which the concession of 
New Madrid and its commercial privileges had begun. The 
policy of Spain in regard to trade with her colonies had con- 
spicuously weakened. The concession of a uniform fifteen- 
per-cent customs' duty, once granted and announced, could 
never be retracted. Though Miro made unremitting oppo- 
sition to the New IMadrid scheme, interposing all sorts of 
embarrassments to its success, and at last defeating it, the 
fact ot trade was established, and established in a manner 
that undermined the Spanish prestige and utterly destroyed 
whatever vague hope there might have been of separating 
the western country from the Union. 

Although his conclusions had been formed and the pre- 
liminaries doubtless agreed with Morgan, Gardoqui still in a 
hopeless and aimless way imagined that in the confusion of 
events the West might be detached from the Union and drift 
to a connection with Spain, if not indeed into actual sub- 
mission to the royal authority. 

A better knowledge of the people would have shown him 
the futility of such an expectation. He would have under- 
stood the hopelessness of bringing under Spanish rule and 
Catholic control and inquisitorial dominion' that hardy 

' Miro was prompt to repudiate the notion tliat toleration was to import a free right 
to practice one's own peculiar religion. He thus explicitly instructed Lieutenant Colonel 
Grandpr^, Governor at Natchez, as to any immisjrants from Kentucky: "As to religion, 
you are already aware that the will of His Majesty is that they be not disturbed on 
that account, but I think it proper that they be made to understand, that this tolera- 



1 34 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

and unbending race of Presbyterians and Baptists who had 
come out of Rockbridge and Augusta to people Kentucky, 
and impress upon the new State the political and religious 
features of their faith. The New England colonists at Mari- 
etta had come into the West bringing with them the Bible 
and the sword, as their Puritan forefathers had aforetime 
done. It was mere madness to expect the allurement or 
subjection of such a population. 

Gardoqui, though four years resident at New York, 
never acquired a knowledge of the people to whom he was 
accredited, nor a just conception of their public men. He 

tion means only that they shall not be compelled to become Catholics; and it is expe- 
dient that this information be conveyed to them in such a manner as to convince them 
th.-it they are not to have the free exercise of their religion, that is, that they are not to 
build churches or have salaried ministers of their creed." (Gayarre, History of Louisiana, 
Spa7tish Domination, 202,) 

The design of establishing the Inquisition at New Orleans had long been enter- 
tained by unwise zealots in Spain, but the opinions of Charles III were opposed to it. 
At his death the Capuchin Antonio de Sedella was despatched to New Orleans as Com- 
missary of the Holy Inquisition. This ecclesiastic notified Miro that he would proceed 
to execute his ofSce, and would perhaps need details of guards to make arrests. Miro 
had the wisdom and the courage to make a military arrest of the inquisitor and send 
him back to Spain. He wrote to his government that "the mere name of Inqui-ition 
uttered in New Orleans would be sufficient not only to check immigration, which is 
successfully progressing, but would also be capable of driving away those who have 
recently come, and I even fear that in spite of my having sent out of the country Father 
SediUa the most fatal consequences may ensue from the mere suspicion of the cause of 
his dismissal." The effect of even a rumor of coming Inquisitorial power upon such 
staunch and thorough-paced Calvinists as Isaac Shelby, Samuel McDowell, Caleb Wal- 
lace, and their associates may be imagined. Had there been no other reason of policy 
or patriotism, the antagonism of religions, in the then stale of religious feeling, would 
have made impossible any plan for putting Kentucky under Spanish authority. In jus- 
tice to the Kentucky Catholics, it should be observed that they looked with no less 
hostility than their Presbyterian and Baptist fellow citizens upon a Spanish ecclesias- 
tical establishment. They were chiefly of English blood and from Maryland, and 
brought with them the principles of Lord Baltimore and his colonists. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. \ 35 

brought with him the diplomatic traditions of his former 
experience. He assumed that every public man must have 
his leaning, determined by self-interest, toward some political 
power other than his own country, and he uniformly acted 
on the belief that all were approachable. In his ignorance 
of American character and American ways he continually 
misconstrued the political characters with whom he came in 
contact, and continually represented as attached to Spanish 
interests persons who were utter strangers to the thought. 
His first estimate of Madison was that he was "a creature of 
France,"" and he was equally confident at another time that 
a sincere friendship had been established between that states- 
man and himself' The informal visits which members of 
Congress were accustomed to pay, and the perfect freedom 
of their political conversations, led him to suppose that he 
was exercising an overmastering influence, when in truth his 
own opinions and intentions were being sounded. 

He expressed his firm belief that Gen. Henry Knox had 
completely unbosomed himself, in despair of the Republic' 
and the necessity of foreign intervention. Richard Henry 
Lee was reported as completely won over to all that Spain 

■ " For que el Maddisson, qui vino de Virginia, es criatura de la Francia." [Gar- 
dopii to Floridablanca, Secret Deipatcli No. i6, I2tli May, 1786.) 

""Establado con el una amistad reciproca y sincera." (Gardoqui to Floridablanca, 
No. 178, I2th May, 1787.) 

3 Gardoqui to floridablanca. Secret Despatch No. 16, 12th May, 17S6. 



1 36 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

could desire," and that he would support all measures neces- 
sary to carry out the Spanish plan, of which the occlusion of 
the Mississippi was so important a part. 

Col. Henry Lee was "baited," as the minister supposed, 
by a loan of money, along with John Parker; a supposition 
not borne out by any vote or speech of theirs or warranted 
by any history or tradition. 

Gardoqui flattered himself, and assured his government, 
that he had in a large measure formed and maintained a pro- 
nounced Spanish opinion in the Atlantic States and among 
the New England delegates adverse to the interests of the 
West,^ and favorable to a stoppage of the river navigation.^ 

Judged by his own writings, he must be pronounced sin- 
gularly deficient in perspicacity and too sanguine by far for 
a diplomat confronting new and complicated issues. He 
was in truth completely read and understood by the men 
whom he thought he was manipulating. 

The machinery of the Confederation was so inadequate 

■ " Mi respectable amigo el ex-Presidente Mr. Ricardo Henry Lee, por que es todo 
nuestro, y Miembro de Virginia en este Congresso, cuya presencia acrobardara a sus 
concolegas, y es capaz de dar doble consistencia a nuestras ideas." (Gardoqui to Flori- 
dablanca, Secret Despatch No. 16, 12th May, 1786.) 

^"Por que los del norte opinan como nosotros, y los del sur se oponan acerrimos." 
{fiardoqui to FloridabUmca, 6th August, 17S6.) 

3 A memorandum of his conversation with Clinton is given. {Gardoqui to Florida- 
blattca, Secret Despatch N'o. 6, 21st November, 1785.) Mr. Gorham, of .M.issachtisetts, 
indeed gave color to Gardoqui's report by his avowal in Congress (23d April, 17S7), 
that "the shutting of the Mississippi would be advantageous to the Atlantic States, and 
he wished to see it shut." {Madison Papers, Vol. II, p. 609.) 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 3 7 

to (governmental ends, and the powers conferred so restricted 
that the members of the Continental Congress assembled 
and acted hardly otherwise than as agents of localities. The 
reservations of the Articles of Confederation left many occa- 
sions for direct conference between a State and a foreign 
power. 

The points of his conversations with Knox, Clinton, 
Richard Henry Lee, and other influential men are given by 
Gardoqui in his voluminous despatches. These cover all the 
public relations and complications that existed or seemed 
threatened. The expression of individual opinion on the 
part of delegates in the Congress seems to have been very 
unreserved. In the then unformed condition of the Ameri- 
can government each delegate was (as has already been 
observed) unfettered to confer with the Spanish Minister; for 
the States were not yet passed from the union of the Con- 
federation to the more perfect union under the Constitution. 
The writings of Madison preserve memorials of this signif- 
icant fact, and give large details of the interviews. Gov. 
Randolph held communication with Gardoqui through Mad- 
ison.' In March, 1787, Madison and Bingham, of Pennsyl- 
vania, had a long private conference with Gardoqui, in which 
the problem of the Mississippi was discussed and the sugges- 
tion ventured by the Spanish Minister that "the peoj^le of 

^Madison to Randolph, 2d April, 1787, 2 Madisot, Papers, 629. 
18 



1 38 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Kentucky would make good Spanish subjects, and that they 
would become such for the privilege annexed to that char- 
acter." ' At another time the body of Virginia delegates 
in Congress in conference with Gardoqui indulged a " free 
conversation on the western country and the Mississippi." 
Madison has preserved an account of its points; and notes 
that Gardoqui "intimated, with a jocular air, the possibility 
of the Western people becoming Spanish subjects."^ 

The element of secrecy was singularly absent from all 
these conferences. The delegates communicated and dis- 
cussed them freely among themselves, and published them 
by their correspondence.^ 

It does not at all appear that there ever was one member 
of the Congress, or a single public man, other than Gen. 
James Wilkinson, Judge Benjamin Sebastian, and Dr. James 
White, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, with whom any 
corrupt relations were established, or to whom the thought 
of a traitorous bargain occurred. The virulence of party 
feeling and personal rivalries filled the air for twenty years 
with injurious insinuations or defamatory charges; but time 
has cooled the passions that then raged, and investigation 

^ Mad son Pa/<(rs, Vol. II. p. 592. 

'^ Madison Papers, Vol. II, p. 601. 

3For e.xample, Madison's account to Jefferson (Madison Paptis, Vol. II, p. 622), and 
Brown's account to Madison of his conference with Gardoqui, as confirmed by Madison 
in his letter of llth October, 1S34, to Mann Butler. (MS. in the writer's possession, 
but publislied in BiUUr's History of Kentucky^ edition of 1836, p. 518, and in Collin's 
History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p 329.) 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 39 

vindicates the purity of American public men of tlic period. 
The same justice that must vindicate Madison from the 
charge of being a creature of France, afterward converted to 
a Spanish partisan, and Richard Henry Lee, and Bingham, 
and Brown of intrigues and conspiracies, and Henry Lee 
and Parker of suspicion of bribe taking, rejects the charge 
that Gorham was willing to divide the country in order that 
Massachusetts might secure a market for fish, or that Clin- 
ton viewed with dissatisfaction the prosperity of the West, 
or that Knox sighed for the strong intervention of a foreign 
power in American affairs. It must alike establish the patri- 
otic fair fame of those soldiers of the Revolution who pushed 
the American advance guard to the Scioto, the Cumberland, 
the Kentucky, and to the banks of the Mississippi. 

The attention of Congress was so absorbed in anxious 
watch of the votes upon the adoption of the Federal Consti- 
tution that all consideration of the Kentucky memorial was 
deferred. Brown had already presented the proceedings of 
the Danville Convention of 17S7 and the request of Ken- 
tucky for admission as a member of the Confederation." The 
consideration in committee of the whole, fixed for four days 
later, was deferred indefinitely. On May 30th Congress 
named the ensuing Monday for consideration of the mat- 
ter,= and on 2d June, 1787, the Kentucky delegate had the 

' 29th February, 1788. pumah of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 8n. 
^3oth May, 1788. Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 8ig. 



1 40 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

supreme satisfaction of carrying through the Committee of 
the Whole a report moved by Mr. Otis of Massachusetts: 

"That, in their opinion, it is expedient that the District of Kentucky be 
erected into an independent State, and therefore they submit the following 
resolution. That the address and resolutions from the District of Ken- 
tucky, with the acts of the legislature of Virginia therein specified, be 
referred to a committee consisting of a member from each state, to prepare 
and report an act acceding to the independence of the said district of Ken- 
tucky, and for receiving the same into the union as a member thereof in a 
mode conformable to the articles of confederation." ' 



On the following day, June 3d, Congress by resolution 
(apparently unanimous) agreed to the report, and designated 
the special committee that should prepare the necessary leg- 
islation, Williamson of North Carolina, Hamilton of New 
York, Arnold of Rhode Island, Baldwin of Georgia, Dane 
of Massachusetts, Kearney of Delaware, Oilman of New 
Hampshire, Brown of Virginia, Clarke of New Jersey, 
Tucker of South Carolina, and Read of Pennsylvania, were 
selected.^ The committee without difficulty agreed upon 
the draft of the act, but before it could be reported for pas- 
sage news came in from the north that disconcerted the plan. 
On the 2d of July it was announced that New Hampshire 
had transmitted her ratification of the Federal Constitution 

^ Jountah nf Congress, Vol. IV, p. 819. 

''li June, 1788. Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 819. 



The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 141 

"and the same being read, the president reminded Congress 
that this was the ninth ratification transmitted and laid 
before them."" 

The great change was accomplished. The action of 
New Hampshire inaugurated the Constitutional Republic of 
America; for by the terms of the new organic law it was pro- 
vided that 

"The ratification of tlie conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for 
the establishment of this constitution between the states so r.itifying the 
same." 

The States which, as members of the Confederation, had 
entertained the memorial of Kentucky, all save four, were 
now component parts of a new government, bound by that 
new and inspired instrument that spoke in the name of the 
people of the United States, and prescribed allegiance to "a 
more perfect union." 

The old bonds were relaxed, the powers of the old sys- 
tem vanished, save only as they might serve for putting in 
motion the powers of the new. The governmental work of 
the Confederation was done; it only remained for the Conti- 
nental Congress to fix a day on which electors should be 
chosen in the ratifying States. 

The ratification by New Hampshire (21st June) was but a 
week earlier than that by Virginia (26th June). 

' id July, I7<S8. Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 827. 



142 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

It was very plain to the Congress that power to re- 
ceive a new State was no longer one of its functions. 
The Confederation could not do so, for it was practically 
at an end; nine of its thirteen members were withdrawn. 
The Continental Congress had no powers under the new 
Government in such a matter, for new States could only 
be received by the Congress that should convene under 
the Constitution. 

The particular result as to Kentucky was a bitter disap- 
pointment to that delegate whose every energy had been 
bent to procuring action that would admit Kentucky while 
yet the Confederation lived and possessed power. The 
hopes of his people were dashed; possibilities of disorder 
loomed up. He discerned misrepresentation, dissension, 
and trouble in the near future. He was the youngest mem- 
ber of the Continental Congress, and its last survivor; and 
during the fifty years of his after-life he ever regretted that 
during the month of June, 17SS, his friend Madison had not 
been present to give his powerful and persuasive aid to the 
establishment and admission into the Union of the new 
Commonwealth of Kentucky." 

'John Brown, born near Staunton, Va., I2th September, 1757, died at Frankfort, 
Ky., zSth August, 1837. At the age of 19, while a student at Princeton, he had John 
Witherspoon's written permission to leave college "in good standing" for the purpose 
of joining La Fayette as a volunteer aide. He subsequently studied at William and 
Mary. His public life began in the Virginia Legislature, as senator from the three 
counties composing the District of Kentucky. In 1787 and 1788 he was a delegate 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 143 

The Congress reached a right conclusion, it must be ad- 
mitted, when, thus notified of the operative ratification of 
the new Constitution, it at once considered the necessity of 
discharging its committee from further consideration of the 
Kentucky business. A resolution to that effect was carried, 
and a final vote on the recognition and acceptance of Ken- 
tucky was taken next day (July 3d). 

The act already prepared by the committee was called up 
and its passage moved by Brown, hopeless as he must have 
been of success. The logic of the situation was all with the 
substitute moved by Mr. Dane of Massachusetts, and sec- 
onded by Mr. Tucker of South Carolina. It was temperate 
and conciliatory in language, perfectly fair and accurate in 
its statement of the facts, and it embodied a series of expla- 
nations and reasons that were indisputably sound. 

The Virginia delegation voted against the proposition to 
consider Dane's s'ubstitute in advance of a vote on the pro- 
posed act, and they had the unsubstantial excuse that as yet 
no ofificial advices of Virginia's ratification had been received. 
But when, overruled by the voices of all the other States, the 
direct vote upon Dane's substitute was reached, Brown held 
his peace, and his colleagues united with the majority so evi- 
dently right. As the record has it: 

from Virginia to the Continental Congress, and became a memiier of the first Congress 
convened under tlie Constitution, serving as sucli until tlie admission of Kentucky as a 
State, when he was chosen lier first senatur. This position he filled from 1792 to 1805, 
when he retired from public life. 



144 Ths Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

"So it passed in the affirmative, as follows : 

" Whereas, appHcation has been lately made to Congress by the legisla- 
ture of Virginia and the district of Kentucky for the admission of the said 
district into the federal union as a separate member thereof, on the terms 
contained in the acts of the said legislature and in the resolutions of the 
said district relative to the premises; And whereas. Congress, having fully 
considered the subject, did, on the third day of June last, resolve that it is 
expedient that the said district be erected into a sovereign and independent 
state and a separate member of the federal union, and appointed a com- 
mittee to report an act accordingly, which committee, on the second instant, 
was discharged, it appearing that nine states h.id adopted the constitution 
of the United States lately submitted to the conventions of the people; 
And whereas, a new confederacy is formed among the ratifying states, and 
there is reason to believe that the State of Virginia, including the said dis- 
trict, did, on the 25th of June last, become a member of the said confeder- 
acy; And whereas, an act of Coiigress, in the present state of the govern- 
ment of the country, severing a part of the said state from the other parts 
thereof, and admitting it into the confederacy formed by the articles of con- 
federation and perpetual union, as an independent member thereof, may be 
attended with many inconveniences, while it can have no effect to make the 
said district a sej)arate member of the federal union formed by the adoption 
of the said constitution, and therefore it must be manifestly improper for Con- 
gress, assembled under the articles of confederation, to adopt any other 
measures relative to the premises than those which express their sense that 
the said district ought to be an independent member of the union as soon as 
circumstances shall permit proper measures to be adopted for that purpose : 

" Resolved, That a copy of the proceedings of Congress relative to the 
independency of the district of Kentucky be transmitted to the legislature 
of Virginia, and also to Samuel McDowell, Esq., late president of the said 
convention, and that the said legislature and the inhabitants of the district 
aforesaid be informed that, as the constitution of the United States is now 
ratified. Congress think it unadvisable to adopt any further measures for 
admitting the district of Kentucky into the federal unim as an independent 



The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 145 

member thereof, under the articles of confederation and perpetual union ; 
but that Congress, thinking it expedient that the said district be made a sep- 
arate state and member of the union as soon after proceedings shall com- 
mence under the said constitution as circumstances shall [lermit, recommend 
it to the said legislature and to the inhabitants of the said district so to alter 
their acts and resolutions relative to the premises, as to render them con- 
formable to the provisions made in the said constitution, to the end that no 
impediment may be in the way of the speedy accomplishment of this im- 
portant business." {Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 830, 3d July, 17S8.) 



The Conferenee uiith Gardoqui. 

The number and freedom of Gardoqui's interviews with 
the members of Congress, singly and in delegations, has 
been noticed, as has been the freedoin with which they were 
discussed in conversation and correspondence. 

One of these needs particular notice as bearing on the 
current political history of Kentucky, and because of the 
amount of personal bitterness that was engendered by the 
different constructions that were put upon it. 

There are several sources of information as to the fact, 
the details, the purpose, and the use made of the conversa- 
tion that passed between John Brown, delegate in Congress 
from Virginia representing the District of Kentucky, and 
Don Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish Minister, in July, 1788. 

Its history was not written, even by an unfriendly hand, 
until Marshall, in 181 2, poured out in his History of Ken- 

>9 



146 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

tucky the intense feeling, personal, political, and religious, 
that had rankled for nearly thirty years. It was not till 
1834 that Madison's consultative knowledge of the interview 
and his counsel to Brown was made public. The account 
given by Gardoqui to his government has not until this time 
been accessible. 

On the 25th July, 1788, Gardoqui recounted in a despatch 
to Count Floridablanca the particulars of a conversation con- 
cernins: affairs in the West which he had had with Brown a 
few days before. 

That paper read as follows : 

"In my despatches of iStli April, I had the honor to inform your Excel- 
lency of that movement which the District of Kentucky had renewed in 
consequence of the consent given by Virginia (of which it forms a part) to 
its recognition and admission by Congress as a sovereign, independent 
State. The matter was agitated vigorously of late, and a committee named, 
composed of one member from each state, and afterwards upon considera- 
tion (as the order of the day) in a general session of Congress, it was agreed 
that the demand was just; though, in view of the various circumstances of 
the time, it was referred to the new Government. This determination was 
very distasteful to those who promoted the separation of the District, and 
particularly so to Mr. John Brown, a landed proprietor and resident in that 
District, who was interested in that matter, among others, as member in 
Congress. Finally tlie business was passed over to the new Government," 
in which the State of Virginia will be included as part, because of her con- 
sent to join the confederation, given before the fourth of the present month. 
Foreseeing some of these occurrences, I took occasion during the past j'ear 

'On 3d July, 17SS. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 147 

to cultivate the friendship of the aforesaid Brown, and to introduce such 
topics as I thought would produce good results. Our friendship gradually 
increased and my sentiments naturally made an impression on him, inas- 
much as they touched upon those obstacles, imposed by our treaties with 
other nations, which forbade us according any extension of favor to his 
section of country while pertaining to the United States, artfully insinuating 
that only themselves could remove the difficulty; inasmuch as if separated 
they would afford excuse for regarding them as an interior District without 
maritime designs, and perhaps we could devise some plan for adjusting the 
markets so much needed in some of our possessions. 1 carefully observed 
his appearance as I told him this, and it seemed to me that I could discern 
the satisfaction it gave. He said he would reflect upon it, and would see 
me and talk at leisure upon the subject. Several days passed and he came 
to this house, where, a few days since, we had a long conversation in which 
we renewed the subject, and I repeated the same and other observations. 
He seemed quite satisfied and obliged to me, and admitted, in confidence, 
that he had, by a messenger who had left some days before, communicated 
to his constituents the decision of Congress concerning the separation, refer- 
ring to the favorable disposition he had discovered in me, and, in short, that 
he hoped to communicate matters of importance productive of benefit to 
that country. He told me, in conclusion, that this month the Convention 
would meet, and that he expected it would resolve upon the erection of an 
independent state; that he expected to leave this place the ist of August, 
and that he would arrive in time to inform and aid what he had discussed 
with me, for he deemed it a very fit and important subject for considera- 
tion, and for the present he thanked me for himself and in the name of all 
the country, which would be under lasting obligations to me. This, your 
Excellency, is another element of this arduous business, in which I believe 
that now more than ever it behooves us to take occasion to make sure for our- 
selves without incurring resentment of others. I beg that your Excellency 
will condescend to inform me if this has the approbation of His Majesty, 
and that the elevated understanding of your Excellency will direct me, so 
that if any sudden occasion should occur I may meet it effectively and with- 
out clash, which I confess seems difficult. 



148 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

"Your Excellency is aware that the power His Majesty has deigned to 
confer on me mentions the " United States," and will serve to direct me if 
occasion offers to do any thing within its scope. I think we need not be 
disturbed by the English intrigues for obtaining the friendship of that Dis- 
trict, because its inhabitants well know how infinitely important to them is 
communication and fiiendship with their neighbors of the Lower River 
who have that which they need, and the Port which naturally pertains to 
their country. 

"It is more than likely that the before-mentioned member will again see 
me before he departs, and I will not lose an opportunity of forwarding 
affairs or of informing your Excellency of what may have occurred. In the 
mean time I conclude, again submitting myself to the orders of your Excel- 
lency, and praying that God may guard the life of your Excellency many 
years. 

"New York, 2Sth July, 178S. Most Excellent Sir, I kiss the hands of 
your Excellency. 

" Your most obliged and obedient servant, 

" DIEGO DE GARDOQUI." ' 

It is not possible to ascertain with certainty who were the 
others, if any, that participated in the conversation detailed 
by Gardoqui. But the probability would seem to be that 
some of the Virginia delegates may have done so. The 
conversation was "a few days before" the 25th. It appears 
that Madison had already returned from Virginia to his 
place in Congress at New York. The journals show him 
voting on the 1 7th.' He had hastened from Richmond to 
New York immediately after the vote of 26th June, by which 

' Gardiiqui to Floridablanca, No. 279, 25th July, 17S8. 
^Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. S37. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 149 

the Virginia Convention ratified the Constitution of the 
United States." 

In New York his lodgings were in the same house with 
Brown, as appears from his references to the "mess " or " fam- 
ily," and messages to its members, conveyed in his corres- 
pondence with Brown," and their relations were those of in- 
timate friendship. It would seem possible, therefore, that 
Madison himself was present, as he certainly was fully ad- 
vised of the overtures of Gardoqui. His recollection of the 
facts did not go to that extent when he gave them in 1834, 
though he then distinctly remembered and verified from his 
manuscripts that the conversation was certainly "communi- 
cated to me by Mr. Brown," if not actually taken part in by 
himself.^ The suggestion of Gardoqui, that by mere crea- 
tion of the new State a mode of accommodation as to the 
navigation of the Mississippi could be arrived at, was far 
more moderate and practicable than that which had already 
been broached by him to Madison and Bingham," and to 
the collective delegation of Virginia.^ And it evidently pro- 
ceeded upon that idea of Gardoqui's which Madison had 
long since penetrated, that Spain had no expectation or 

' Washington to Madison, 23d June, 1788. In Bancrojfs History of tite Constitution, 
Vol. 11, p. 471. 

'^ Madison lo Brcrum, 91I1 April, 17S8; Afadison to Bimoii, 27th M.iy, 17S8; MSS. 

^Madison to Mann Butler, nth October, 1834, given in Collins' Bistory 0/ Kentucky, 
Vol. I, p. 329. The MS. is in the writer's possession. 

''Madison Pafers, Vol. II, p. 590, and following. 

^Madison Papers, Vol. II, p. 599, and following. 



1 50 The Political Beginnings of Kentticky. 

desire of having the western people as "refractory subjects," 
but wished rather to find tliem "friendly neighbors,"' and 
that beneath all the forms and bluster of diplomacy was the 
serious fact that from mere necessity and to secure safety 
from violence and invasion of the Spanish dominion, '■'trade 
through the Mississippi wojild be winked at." '" 

The course presented to the representative of the Ken- 
tucky District was one of delicacy and onerous responsi- 
bility. He now knew unmistakably from the lips of the 
Spanish Minister that nothing beyond a pretext, such as 
would evade the complications of an old diplomacy, was 
sought for permitting the people of the West to enjoy the 
natural advantages of their geographical position. It was 
now definitely admitted that "trade through the Mississippi 
would be winked at" until a formal international treaty could 
be concluded, if only some excuse like the declaration of a 
new State could be presented as a palliative to Spanish pride 
of opinion. 

There was room for casuistry whether the agreement for 
separation and for the erection of a new State, already con- 
cluded between Virginia and Kentucky, had totally fallen to 
the ground by reason of non-action on the part of the Con- 
tinental Congress, or whether that agreement could yet be 

■ Madison Papers, Vol. II, p. 601. 
^Madison Papers, Vol. II, p. 593. 



The Political Bcgiitnings of Kentttcky. 151 

regarded as existent and as forming a legitimate basis for an 
application by Kentucky to the Congress, assembled under 
the Constitution, for prompt admission into the Union. 

The Continental Congress had by its resolution of the 3d 
July at least given color to the thought that nothing more 
than a modification of existing legislative and convention 
acts was requisite. No new agreement between the State 
and the District consenting to separation was indicated as 
necessary. The existing acts were considered a sufficient 
basis. The Congress, therefore, deemed nothing necessary 
further than to "recommend it to the said legislature and to 
the inhabitants of the said district so to alter their acts and 
resolutions relative to the premises as to render them con- 
formable to the provisions made in the said constitution, to 
the end that no impediment may be made in the way of the 
speedy accomplishment of this important business."' 

It was provided in the recently ratified Constitution (Art. 
IV, Sec. 3), that new States might be admitted by the Con- 
gress into the Union, and the restriction upon forming new 
States by partition of an older Commonwealth lay in a re- 
quirement prescribed in the same section, that the consent 
of the States concerned as well as that of Congress should 
first be given. 

The argument, from this point of view, was the obvi- 

^ Journals of Congress, Vol. IV, p. 830. 



1 5 2 The Political Beginnings of Kenhicky. 

ous and quite forcible one that Kentucky and Virginia had 
already consented and fully agreed between themselves, and 
that it was competent, in view of that agreement, for Ken- 
tucky to declare it and present herself at once to Congress 
as a candidate for admission. 

It was no doubt the opinion of Brown and his colleagues 
of the Virginia delegation that this course of procedure 
would be admissible, and they doubtless felt how important 
to the public tranquility was the "speedy accomplishment of 
this important business" that might thus be obtained. They 
were unquestionably alive to the arguments which consider- 
ations of public expediency suggested. It was easy, as they 
saw, to placate the opposition that had jeopardized the ac- 
ceptance of the Constitution and to convert the Kentucky 
representatives who had opposed ratification into zealous 
supporters of the new government, by demonstration of the 
fact that under its workings the interests of the West were 
safe and could be speedily cared for. Patrick Henry, Will- 
iam Grayson, and others had strenuously objected to the 
new Constitution, that its adoption would ruin the West. 
James Monroe had doubted if the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi could be had under the new Government. And the 
Kentucky representatives in Virginia Convention largely 
shared these fears and followed the lead of Henry. 

Under these circumstances it was decided by Brown and 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 5 3 

Madison that it would be highly inexpedient to give any o-en- 
eral publicity to Gardoqui's suggestions and overtures. The 
state of the public mind forbade it' 

Two persons only in Kentucky were informed of what 
had occurred, and it is to be noted that against the patriotic 
integrity of neither of these has a word ever been uttered or 
an insinuation suggested. Samuel McDowell was one of 
the two who received confidential information of what had 
been said by Gardoqui. The reasons for communicating 
with him were both public and personal. He was justly 
possessed of the entire confidence of the West. His career 
had been a long one of military and civil service, marked by 
unimpeached uprightness and wisdom. He had presided in 
all the Kentucky conventions, and the weight of his charac- 
ter and the soundness of his patriotism had inspired in the 
statesmen of Virginia a feeling of security as to the modera- 
tion and justness of the action that might be taken in the 
deliberative bodies of the District, and of certainty that his 
opinions would greatly influence public conclusions. It was 

■ " My recollection, with which reference to my manuscript papers accords, leaves 
no doubt that the overture was communicated to me by Mr. Brown. Nor can I doubt 
that, as stated by him, I expressed the opinion and apprehension that a knowledge of 
it in Kentucky might, in the excitement there, be mischievously employed. This view 
of the subject evidently resulted from the natural and known impatience of the people 
on the waters of the Mississippi for a market for the produce of their exuberant soil; 
from a distrust of the Federal policy produced by the project of surrendering the u.se 
of that river for a term of years, and from a coincidence of the overture in point of 
time with the plan on foot for consolidating the Union by arming it with new pow- 
ers," etc. {Madison to Mann Butler, iith October, 1834.) 



1 54 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

important that he of all men in Kentucky should be fully 
informed of all that was likely to affect the affairs of the 
West, not only that his judgment might assist in arriving at 
right conclusions, but that his wise policy as a presiding 
officer might control dangerous debate and steer the con- 
ventions clear of unprofitable or irritating questions. His 
experience as member of the Supreme Court of the Dis- 
trict made his opinion on questions of law that were involved 
very important. 

Besides these very sufficient public reasons, there were 
considerations of a personal character that induced Brown to 
communicate with McDowell. Between the two families 
there had existed an ancient and close intimacy antedating 
their migration from the North of Ireland to Burden's Grant 
in Virginia. In the days when religious dissent was still 
frowned upon by the Virginia law, the father of McDowell 
(John McDowell) and the grandfather of Brown (John Pres- 
ton) were elders of the Presbyterian congregation that wor- 
shiped at Tinkling Spring, within the presbytery of which 
the elder John Brown was a minister at New Providence and 
Timber Ridge. Brown was known to McDowell from his 
infancy, and the confidence was mutual." 

^Deposition of Samuel ilcDcnoell, September, 1S12, in the suit of Harry Innes 
ai;ainst Humphrey Marshall. The papers of this suit were quite recently discovered 
by the writer in the archives of the Mercer Circuit Court. The record contains depo- 
sitions of many of the leading participants in early Kentucky affairs, which will be 
referred to in another place. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 155 

The other person in Kentucky whom it seemed proper to 
inform was George Muter, Chief Justice of the District. 
The propriety of doing so lay in the fact that his opinion 
would have much influence as to the legality of an immedi- 
ate application to Congress for admission to the Union based 
upon the action already taken by Virginia. Beside this, his 
long service as Quartermaster of Virginia during the Revo- 
lution had made Judge Muter well known to all the promi- 
nent personages of that State. He was eminently a con- 
necting link between the two peoples, and his patriotism was 
indisputable. But he was vascillating as compared with the 
strong men with whom he came in contact, easily influenced 
as events proved, and neither wise enough to keep counsel 
nor vigorous enough to permanently command the respect 
of contending parties." 

Under the cautious advice of Madison the communica- 
tion of Gardoqui was thus kept from the knowledge of all 
persons in Kentucky save McDowell and Muter. Neither 
Shelby nor Wallace nor Innes was informed, nor did Brown 
think it proper to let his brother James know of it. 

The letter which Brown wrote McDowell was destroyed 
by accident, but its tenor and a vindication of the writer was 
published eighteen years afterward by Judge McDowell,' 

' Marshall, History of Kentucky, edition of 1824, Vol. II, p. 78. 

^The publication by McDowell, dated 4th August, 1806, is given in full in Litlell's 
"Political Transactions in and Concerning Kentucky " (Frankfort, Ky., 1806), where it 



1 56 The Political Beginnitigs of Kentucky. 

and at a still later date deposed to by him in a suit brought 
by Innes against Humphrey Marshall for libelous publica- 
tions." The letter to Muter was made public, and it is pre- 
sumable that the two were in substance the same, and for- 
warded by the same chance conveyance westward. 

Under date of July 10, 1788, Brown explained to Muter 
the causes that had defeated the Kentucky application, and 
expressed his belief that the simultaneous admission of Ver- 
mont or Maine would be insisted on by the Eastern States 
as a condition coupled with Kentucky's admission. He 
alluded to the jealousy even then discernable between the 
sections, and which he feared might continue under the new 
government. He distinctly defined the question confronting 
the people of Kentucky, as being narrowed to "whether or 
not it will be most expedient to continue the connection 
with the State of Virginia or to declare their independence 
and proceed to frame a constitution of government." 

He clearly intimated his opinion that the movement for 
a separate State government had gone too far to be aban- 
doned, and that admission into the Union was too urgently 
necessary to await the tedious delays that had marked Ken- 
tucky's former application. It is evident that he had become 

appears as Appendix No. XVIIi. It is j^iven in tlie appendix to this paper. No cor- 
rect estimate of early Kentucky political development can be made without a carefu 
perusal of this thrice rare little volume by Littell. 

' Deposition of Samuel MeDo^vell in the suit of Innes against Marshall, Mercer Cir- 
cuit Court. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 157 

convinced that the proper and expedient method of pro- 
cedure was for the July Convention to frame a constitution 
for the new State and forward it at once to Congress, accom- 
panied by a formal application for admission into the Union. 
On the subject of the Gardoqui conversation he wrote thus : 

" In private conferences which I have had with Mr. Gardoqui, the 
Spanish minister at this place, I have been assured by him in the most 
explicit terms, that if Kentucky will decLire her independence, and em- 
power some proper person to negotiate with him, that he has authority and 
will engage to open the navigation of the Mississippi for the exportation of 
their produce on terms of mutual advantage; but that this privilege can 
never be extended to them while part of the United States, by reason of 
commercial treaties existing between that Court and other powers of Europe. 
As there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of this declaration, I have 
thought proper to communicate it to a few confidential friends in the dis- 
trict, with his permission, not doubting but they will make a prudent 
use of the information which is in part confirmed by despatches yesterday 
received by Congress from Mr. Carmichael, our minister at that court, the 
contents of which I am not at liberty to disclose. 

" Congress is now engaged in framing an ordinance for putting the new 
government in motion ; it is not yet completed, but as it now stands, the 
elections are to be made in December and the new congress to meet in Feb- 
ruary, but it may undergo alteration. Ten states have ratified — this State' 
is now in session — what the result of their deliberation will be is yet 
doubtful ; two-thirds of the members are opposed to it, but 'tis probable 
they may be influenced by motives of expediency. N. Carolina will adopt — 
time alone can determine how the new government will answer the expect- 
ations of its friends ; my hopes are sanguine, the change was necessary." ^ 

' New York. 

'^ Brcntin to Muter, loth July, 1788. This letter is given in full by Marshall, who 
had it from Muter. {^History of Kentucky, edition of 1812, Vol. 1, pp. 337, 340. 



1 58 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

When, at a later period, the rivah-y between Brown and 
James Marshall (candidates seeking to represent Kentucky 
in the second Congress under the Constitution) aroused an 
active canvass, the conversation with Gardoqui and the letter 
received by Muter was made the basis of a very persistent 
and angry attack upon Brown's public fidelity. The public 
debates must have satisfied the people, for Brown was re- 
turned to Congress by an overwhelming majority, and soon 
after was unanimously chosen Senator. The sentiments of 
the leading men of the time are to be gathered from their 
testimony given in after years before courts and legislative 
committees. 

It was not till 1806 that Brown had opportunity before 
the legislature of Kentucky, when Sebastian was under im- 
peachment," to testify under oath and repel the charge and 
explain his actions and his motives. From his MS. memo- 
randa of his testimony so delivered his version can be briefly 

'The legislative investigations into the conduct of Sebastian, charged with having 
accepted {in 1795) a pension of two thousand dollars from Spain, are contained in the 
very scarce '^Report of the Select Committee to w/iom was referred the information communi- 
cated to the House of Representatives charging Benjamin Sebastian, one of the fudges of the 
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, with having received a pension from the Spanish Government. 
Frankfort, Ky, From the press of J. M. Street. 1806." In this report the committee 
embodied a statement of the substance of the testimony given by the several witnesses 
called before them. The witnesses examined under oath were Thomas Bullitt, Charles 
Wilkins, James T. Martin, Christopher Greenup, Richard Steele, Wingfield Bullock, 
Daniel Weisiger, Harry Innes, Joseph Hamilton Daviess, John Brown, Thomas Todd, 
Joseph Crockett, Achilles Sneed, and George Madison. The documents referred to by 
the witnesses are also printed. The writer of this paper has given an extended account 
of this report and the proceedings upon it in an address delivered at the centennial 
celebration of Frankfort, Ky., 1886. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 159 

stated. "The fact is," said Brown, "that from 1785, when 
the first convention met at Danville, on the subject of a sep- 
aration from the State of Virginia, till 1792, when Kentucky 
was admitted into the Union as a separate State, no motion 
was at any time made, either in convention or to the people, 
to separate from the Union and form an alliance with Spain; 
nor was any measure to that effect discussed or advocated 
by any man. The proposition of Mr. Gardoqui originated 
with himself, and was suggested by him in conversation on 
the subject of his negotiation with Mr. Jay, and was commu- 
nicated by me to Col. Muter and Col. McDowell, Judges of 
the Supreme Court, in reply to letters from them requesting 
whatever information I might obtain relative to that nego- 
tiation. At the date of my letter to Muter I intended to 
write letters of the same import to other friends who cor- 
responded with me, but upon further reflection, and more 
especially after an interesting conversation with a highly dis- 
tinguished statesman of Virginia" relative to Gardoqui's 
project, I deemed it inexpedient to make any further com- 
munication on the subject, the public mind of Kentucky 
being in a high state of excitement in consequence of the 
rejection by Congress of the application to be admitted into 
the Union as an independent State." 

He strongly protested that never had he, nor any one in 
Kentucky to his knowledge, entertained a thought of trans- 

' Madison. 



1 60 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

ferring the allegiance of his people, or of dismembering the 
Union, or forming any political connection other than with 
the States and by admission into the Confederation as it 
first was, or the Union as perfected under the Constitution. 

The "History of Kentucky," by Humphrey Marshall, 
first put forth in 181 2, is, so far as it treats of political mat- 
ters, unfortunately more of a controversial pamphlet than a 
dispassionate recital of events. The author possessed large 
abilities ; he had resided in Kentucky for nearly thirty years, 
and he had been, as he continued, a political partisan of the 
most determined kind. That he was very sincere in his own 
political views can not be questioned, and he possessed many 
qualities that commended him. But he was unfortunately 
blind to the existence of any thing like virtue or probity in 
those whose views differed from his own. His judgments 
were intemperate wherever controversy or difference of polit- 
ical faith aroused the spirit of aggressive antagonism that 
characterized him. He boldly charged upon Brown a wicked 
purpose to put Kentucky under Spanish domination. It 
may be conceded that he believed the charge true, but singu- 
larly enough he neither quotes nor refers to the testimony of 
contemporaries nor appealed to their intimate knowledge of 
men and facts.' 

'The quotations by Marshall in the eighth chapter of his first edition [History of 
Kentucky, edition of 1812, Vol. I, p. 341, c/ .r<ry.) disclose the unusual attempt by an 
author to use his own anonymous newspaper communications as historical proof of his 
own statements as a historian. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. i6i 

How completely the historic temperament was lacking in 
him may be illustrated by his estimate of Dr. Franklin, pen- 
ned more than twenty years after that great man's death, 
summing him up as "that singular composition of formal 
gaiety; of sprightly gravity ; of grave wit; of borrowed learn- 
ing; of vicious morality; of patriotic treachery; of political 
folly ; of casuistical sagacity and republican voluptuousness — 
Doctor Franklin." ' ^^ . 

In his relations toward public personages in Kentucky, 
Marshall was pronounced and courageous, but scarcely ever 
just. His praise of Muter's integrity was unbounded in 
1788, but it degenerated into a profound distrust when he 
was placed upon the Appellate bench of the new State in 
1792, and was followed by unmeasured denunciation of him 
and the court when the decision in the case of Kenton v. 
McConnell was rendered in 1795. From that day Nicholas, 
the successful lawyer in the case, was added to the list of 
men whom Marshall classed as the enemies of his country. 
The services of Nicholas in the Virginia Convention, where 
(by Bancroft's classification) he stood among the ablest advo- 
cates of the ratification of the Federal Constitution, and 
where he sustained debate against Patrick Henry, availed 
nothing in the judgment of so determined an adversary. 

^Marshall's History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. i8o, edition of 1812. The passage is 
omitted in the edition of 1824. 

21 



1 62 The Political Beginniiigs of Kefttucky. 

The cloud of his denunciation came in turn upon John 
Breckinridge and then upon young Henry Clay. With 
Innes there was never ending war. Each detested the other. 
One was sincerely religious; the other objectionably profane.' 
One was attached to Jefferson politically and personally; the 
other a Federalist of the ultra school. Each inaugurated 
proceedings in Congress seeking the destruction of the 
other. Innes procured a resolution of the Kentucky Legis- 
lature requesting an inquiry by the United States Senate 
into the moral fitness of Marshall for membership oi that 
body. Marshall introduced into Congress a measure look- 
ing to an impeachment of Innes for malversation in his 
office of District Attorney of the United States. 

Both failed, and a calmer view after so many years makes 
it reasonably certain that it was wise in Congress to drop 
both sets of charges. Even then it was apparent that neither 
could fairly judge the other. The tranquil mind of Wash- 
ington, who knew both men, judged rightly that Thomas 
Marshall was wrong in suspecting Innes of Spanish intrigue, 
and that Innes was equally in error in the intimation thrown 
out that the visit of Connolly, the British emissary, to Col. 
Thomas Marshall had an ominous purpose. Until 1816, 
when Innes died, this unrelenting personal hostility contin- 

■ His kinsman says of him : " Humphrey Marshall was violent, profane, and irre- 
ligious." (Pax/on, Genealogy, &'c., Marshall Family, p. 8l.) 



The Political Begintiings of Kentucky. 163 

ued, varied with all the phases of threat, charge, denuncia- 
tion, and suit for libel.' No sooner was the printing press 
available for the uses of controversy in the West, than " Ob- 
server," " Vindex," " Publico," and " Coriolanus " waged a war 
of mutual recrimination, in a style and with a use of epithet 
plainly modeled upon the writings which Cobbett was launch- 
ing from his press at Philadelphia.' 

He who would candidly survey the history of that early 
time will be cautious lest the charges which political antago- 
nism suggested or exaggerated be mistaken for pure history. 
It will be safer to appeal to other and more dispassionate 
evidence than Marshall offers in his book. A careful investi- 
gation of this subject is indeed eminently proper, because of 
the fact that great injustice was done in the fiercely partisan 
presentation of the subject by the historian Marshall. He 
succeeded in giving an erroneous coloring which has never 
been wholly done away with, and it is only by a rigid scru- 
tiny of the facts that the injustice can be removed and the 
honorable reputation of good and earnest patriots vindicated. 

' In 1815, .ifter tliiity years of war, Innes ami Marshall agreed to cease their strife, 
and in future to speak respectfully each of the other. It w.is an ill-kept agreement on 
Marshall's part. Inness died in lSi6. Marshall republished and amplified his History 
in 1824. The correspondence leading to this agreement is in the possession of Harry 
I. Todd, Esq., Frankfort, Ky. It will be borne in mind that Col. Thomas Marshall was 
father of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, and uncle to Humphrey 
Marshall, the historian. Humphrey Marshall married his cousin, a daughter of Thomas 
Marshall. Another daughter was the wife of Joseph Hamilton Daviess. 

^ The style of political writing that then obtained had its most influential example 
in Cobbett's scurrilous " Writings of Porcupine." 



1 64 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

It has been seen what was Gardoqui's account to his own 
government of his conversation with Brown, and it is to be 
noted that he does not claim Brown as an adherent nor as 
converted to Spanish interests. How Madison regarded the 
matter, how immediate was his knowledge of it, and what 
was his advice to Brown appears in his letter of 1834, al- 
ready referred to. And the explanation of Brown and his 
asseverations of the correctness of his motive and his action 
were given under the sanction of his oath. 

It is worth while to inquire what was the judgment of 
the men of the time, and what were the facts as they knew 
them. 

There was a body of able and truthful public men in 
Kentucky who were never accused of complicity in any 
intrigues, and of course were not. They gave their testi- 
mony in the suits for libel which Harry Innes brought 
against the historian Marshall, as author, and Street, the 
newspaper proprietor, as publisher, and their statements un- 
der oath are worthy of credence, and should settle forever the 
dispute. The papers in these old cases were recently found. 
The testimony was taken early in the century, and ever since 
that has slumbered in unopened bundles of ancient court 
papers. It is now for the first time that this conclusive 
exposition of the question is brought to light. The state- 
ments of these men of early time may solve the dispute. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 165 

Isaac Shelby testified in the suit for libel brought by 
Innes against Marshall thus: 

"Ever since the plaintiff's (Innes') removal to Kentucky in 1784 or 
1785, I have been in the habits of intimacy with him, have frequently and 
freely conversed with him on political subjects both as related to Kentucky 
and also to the United States. In none of these conversations did I ever 
hear him express one sentiment disrespectful to the Government of the 
United States, and I say positively that he never uttered an expression to 
me or in my hearing, of which I have the least recollection, that could 
induce a belief that he wished a dismemberment of the Union by erecting 
Kentucky into a separate State independent therefrom. I am confident he 
never exjjressed in my hearing the smallest insinuation of his desire to form 
a connection with the Spanish Government in no respect." (2d Answer.) 

" I was a member of nearly all the early conventions held at Danville, 
but can not certify the particular years. I have a recollection of most of 
the important subjects that were discussed. In no convention of which I 
was a member did I ever hear a motion or proposition made by any mem- 
ber to separate Kentucky from the United States and form a connection 
with Spain. Such a proposition, in my opinion, and the author of it, would 
have been treated with scorn and contempt in every convention of which I 
was a member." (7th Answer.) 

" I have said I can not identify years. I know I was present when Wil- 
kinson's memorial was read by himself. I recollect the impressions it made 
on the minds of those I conversed with, but can't state the year. There 
was but few of the early conventions of which I was not a member; and 
when I was not a member I often attended the debates and mixed amongst 
the members, and do say confidently that I never did hear, nor was I ever 
informed, tliat any member of any convention had made or advocated a 
proposition to separate Kentucky from the Union, to establish it into a sep- 
arate Government and form a connection with any foreign power. I well 
recollect the people of Kentucky, previous to our separation from Virginia, 



1 66 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

was warmly and firmly attached to the union of the United States, and in 
my opinion any proposition to sever them from that Union would have met 
their universal disapprobation and contempt, come from whom it might." 
(8th Answer.) 

"I have heard Mr. John Brown speak of his conversation with Gardo- 
qui, the Spanish Minister, but he never expressed a sentence to me that I 
understood as having any design to attach this country to Spain— on the 
contrary, I have had more conversations with Mr. Brown on the subject of 
a separation of Kentucky from Virginia than with any other person, from 
the year 1784 to the year 1792, and declare that he never did in my hear- 
ing express a desire to separate upon unconstitutional principles." (Ans. 
6th cross-interrogatory.)' 

Samuel McDowell also testified: 

"I was the president of the convention in July, 1788, and did receive 
a letter from Mr. Brown on the subject of the separation, which had been 
postponed by congress." (Answer ist.) 

"About the time alluded to (i. e., the Convention of July, 1788), upon 
showing to the plaintiff Innes the paper enclosed in Mr. Brown's letter, he 
said, 'It will do,' ' it will do,' and an allusion was made to Vermont which, 
it was said, was invited into the Union, which would be the case with 
respect to Kentucky if erected into an independent State." (Ans. 2d.) 

"I was well acquainted with the plaintiff (Innes) while he resided in 
Danville, and both before and since, but never knew or heard that he was 
concerned in the Orleans or Mississippi trade." (.Ans. 4.) 

" I have known the plaintiff (Innes) since about the year 1773 or 1774, 
and ever since, and I always considered him a man of good character and of 
good understanding, and never heard otherwise until the publications in the 
Western World about the Spanish conspiracy." (Answer to ist Q. by plff.) 

' Deposition of Isaac Shelby, 25th August, 1813, in the suit of Innes against Marshall, 
Mercer Circuit Court. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 167 

" Question : Were you generally a member of the conventions which 
were held in Kentucky prior to the separation of the District of Kentucky 
from Virginia? 

"Answer : I was generally a member of those Conventions. 

" Question : Have you any knowledge of a proposition being made at 
any time by any member of convention to separate the said District abso- 
lutely and unconditionally from the United States and to form a connection 
with any other government? 

"Answer: I have no knowledge or recollection of such a proposition 
ever having been made by any one. 

"Question: Have you known John Brown, of Frankfort, from his in- 
fancy, and what is his general character ? 

"Answer: I have known him from his infancy, and 1 never heard any 
thing prejudicial to his character until those publications in the Western 
World touching the Spanish Conspiracy. 

"Question: Were you directed by the Convention of Kentucky, as 
the president, to present the thanks of that body to John Brown for 
his faithful attention to the interest of the said District, on an appli- 
cation to the old Congress to be admitted into the Union as an inde- 
pendent State ? 

"Answer: I remember that Mr. Brown received the thanks of the Con- 
vention for his said services, but whether it was by a vote of the conven- 
tion or by their direction to me, I do not recollect. 

"Question: Have you been in habits of intimacy with the said Brown 
and the plaintiff (Innes), and did you ever hear either of them express 
a sentiment which induced you to suspect they had a wish to sever the 
Union and form a connection between Kentucky and the Spanish Gov- 
ernment? 

"Answer: I was in habits of intimacy with both, and 1 never heard 
either of them express a wish to sever the Union, or to have any connec- 
tion with Spain, e.xcept to trade to Orleans." ' 

" Depisilton of Samuel McDowill'm the suit of Innes against Marshall, Mercer Circuit 
Court. 



1 68 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The deposition of Caleb Wallace in the same suit, after 
stating that he had for more than thirty years been intimate 
with Innes, and that he had conversed frequently and fully 
with him on political subjects as they related to Kentucky 
and the United States, declared that he was "confident that 
he never heard him (Innes) express a sentiment disrespectful 
to the Government of the United States of America, or that 
he wished the Kentucky country to be separated from them, 
or that it should form connexion with the Spanish Govern- 
ment independent of said United States." 

Judge Wallace, alluding to the convention of July, 1788, 
and the purpose of its meeting, which was to frame a Con- 
stitution, added, that Congress having referred the admission 
of Kentucky to the new government, "it was conceived by 
the members of the convention to be unnecessary and im- 
proper to proceed to accomplish the business for which they 
had been elected;" but that "the members organized them- 
selves for the purpose of recommending to their constituents 
the election of a convention to take such further measures 
in the case as miglit be deemed expedient." He testified 
that no motion or proposition was made by any one "to sep- 
arate the District of Kentucky from the said United States, 
or to establish an independent government in said District, 
and to engage the District of Kentucky in a connection with 
the Government of Spain or any other power." 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 169 

The "general sentiment" of prominent men in that con- 
vention was, as Wallace deposed, that uttered by Col. 
Thomas Marshall, who " expressed great dissatisfaction with 
Congress for having declined to decide on the application of 
the people of Kentucky to be erected into a separate State, 
and declared that he was clear for proceeding to form a con- 
stitution of government and establishing the District of 
Kentucky an independent State, and then apply for its 
admission into the Union, not doubting but it would be 
received without further delay." He did not " recollect or 
believe" that Innes, Brown, or any one "made or advocated 
any motion to separate the District of Kentucky from the 
United States." "But he then thought and now (1813) 
believes that they concurred in the prevailing wish that Ken- 
tucky should be erected by Congress into an independent 
State and received into the Union." And, while all parties 
were dissatisfied with the delay of the Continental Congress, 
he neither " knew or heard " of any opinion on the part of 
Brown "that Kentucky should declare herself independent of 
of Virginia and the Union."' 

Christopher Greenup, afterward a member of Congress 
and Governor of the State, was also a witness of the occur- 
rences and intimately acquainted with the principal actors. 
His testimony has also been preserved, 

^Deposition of Judge Caleb Wallace in the suit of Innes against Marshall, Mercer 
Circuit Court. 

23 



I 70 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

He denied that any movement or suggestion was made 
by any one in the conventions to separate Kentucky from the 
State of Virginia and the United States and form a connec- 
tion with Spain. (Answer No. 6.) He remembered that 
Wallace did submit in convention a resolution for proceed- 
ing to the framing of a constitution and its submission to 
Congress without applying again to the State of Virginia, 
"observing that she had already given her consent to the 
measure, and it would save time." (Answer to question No. 
7.) No proposition contemplating a severance from the 
Union could, he said, have escaped his observation and 
opposition. (Answer No. 8.) And though the intimacy 
between him and Innes was close, and their conversations 
on political subjects, especially the separation from Virginia, 
very frequent, never did Greenup hear him "express any dis- 
respectful sentiments of the General Government; on the 
contrary, he seemed to think the General Government could 
do more for us as an independent State than perhaps she 
could do while a part of Virginia."' 

The men whose declarations have been quoted stand 
among the justly revered founders of the Commonwealth; 
their sturdy integrity and rigid truth has never been 
doubted. 

^Deposition of Gov. Christopher Greenup in the suit of Innes against Marshall, 
Mercer Circuit Court. 



77^1? Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 7 1 

It has been thought worth the trouble to search out from 
its forgotten depository the record of their sworn declara- 
tions and give them to a generation to whom the true 
history of that early time is chiefly known through distort- 
ed media. For they serve to prove what Madison said, 
what Brown and Innes each asserted upon his corporal oath, 
what those who knew them best solemnly deposed to be the 
fact, and what the people at the time said and believed, that 
the idea of any intent, purpose, or desire to sever Kentucky 
from the American Union of States never had a place in the 
mind of either. The so-called " Spanish Conspiracy," 
gloomily imagined as concocted with Gardoqui, was but a 
figment of an incensed political adversary's brain ; a sus- 
picion unsupported by a particle of testimony, unvouched 
by document, unestablished by deposition, and refuted by 
every proof 

The truth, as it seems deducible from all the facts now 
discoverable, seems to be that Brown, conversing freely with 
Gardoqui, had fully done what McDowell and Muter desired 
him to attempt. He had sounded Gardoqui completely, and 
drawn from him what was to be the last card of his diplo- 
matic game. He had verified this discovery by the secret 
despatches sent by Carmichael from Madrid to the Congress. 
He and Madison were now perfectly agreed that Spain had 
weakened in her resolution, and that the free use of the 



172 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Mississippi would soon follow in the sequence of events ; 
and therefore it was that the two persons most able to mod- 
erate public excitement and direct opinion in Kentucky 
were put in full possession of the last phase of Spanish plan. 
The Spaniard was really sincere in his wish that a pretext 
might be found in the purely formal declaration of a new 
State for according the navigation so much desired, and 
thus soothing the irritated West. And Brown greatly hoped 
that the July Convention would frame a Constitution, apply 
to Congress for admission, and so smooth the way for a con- 
ciliatory policy. With the information that he sent to Gar- 
doqui, that the Kentucky Convention would not pursue the 
prompter plan, but woul d agai n memor ialize Virginia for^ 
separation and Congress for admission, all discussion of the 
subject ended.' 

' It was not until the next year that Brown and Gardoqui again met. Under date 
25th June, 1789, Ganloqui mentions to Floridablanca the return of Brown to New York 
as a member of the House of Representatives in the first Congress. Gardoqui quickly 
perceived that the frontier delegate had not only escaped his trap, but fathomed the 
plan of Spain. The meeting was pleasant and the old hint of disunion was not renewed. 
Stiil bent upon pushing every practical expedient for securing the navigation of the 
Mississippi, Brown opened the subject by adverting to Morgan's New Madrid colony, 
established the year before, and offered to find the capital for establishing at the mouth 
of the Big Black River one hundred American families within eighteen months, and an 
additional one hundred families annually for four years, provided a grant of six hundred 
thousand acres of land was made, and security of religious and civil rights gmiran- 
teed to the settlers. The idea was evidently to establish a free port below Morgan's 
free port of New Madrid. The suggestion does not seem to have been very seriously 
presented or considered, and went no further than a mention in Gardoqui's despatch. 
(CiiiJoqtii lo Hortdablanca, A'0.316, 25th June, 1789) In the same despatch Gardoqui 
speaks of Brown's entering the Congress under the Constitution, and that the new gov- 
ernment would have the benefit of his knowledge of affairs touching the West and the 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 173 

The Congressman was encouraged as he wrote to Innes 
by the outlook of the new government. Nor were Gardo- 
qui's anxieties now so serious, for before the November con- 
vention convened the arrangement with Morgan for the 
colony at New Madrid had been perfected and announced. 
The modus vivendi thus found tided affairs over the breakers 
of the formative period; the installation of Washington as 
President steadied the confidence of all the West, and the 
pacific temper of Carondelet tempered the administration of 
the Province of Louisiana." 

The letters despatched to McDowell and Muter were (for 
a time at least) as prudently treated by the recipients as the 
gravity of their contents required and as the writer intended 
they should be. They were designed to communicate an 
important political fact to the personal confidence of two 
men in the District most proper to know it and most likely 
to keep from the conventions of their people the exciting 

Spanish policy. In his secret despatch he says of Brown: "He will conduct himself 
with much discretion and precaution, slill, by my failli, I will not prove unequal to 
him, nor do I fear him (y que esto sujeto procedera con mucho reserva y precaucion, 
pero, a fe, que yo ni lo ire en zaga, ni lo temo)." yGardoqui to I'loridabhinca, Secret 
Despatch No. 25, 25th June, 17S9 ) This is the last mention by either of the other. 

' Brown wrote to Innes from New York under date 28th September, 1789: "Judg- 
ment, impartiality, and decision are conspicuous in every transaction of the President, 
an 1 from the appointments which he has made there is every reason to expect that 
the different departments will be conducted with justice and ability. I consider the 
appointment of Mr. Jefferson (vice Jay) as a measure favorable to the interests of the 
Western Country, and calculated to remove those fears which exist respecting the navi- 
gation of the river Mississippi. I am fully convinced that we have nothing to fear on 
that score from the present President. This I speak from a knowledge of his sentiments." 



1 74 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

topic which the Spanish Minister would have rejoiced to see 
brought into public discussion. 

A debate in Kentucky, in view of the action of her dele- 
gates in opposing the ratification of the Constitution, would 
have strengthened Gardoqui's position in his diplomatic 
battle over the commercial treaty between Spain and the 
United States, by the introduction of that dangerous ele- 
ment which Washington had so clearly discovered in the 
West. Indiscreet publication would have aroused those 
"turbulent spirits among its inhabitants who, from the pres- 
ent difficulties in their intercourse with the Atlantic States, 
have turned their eyes to New Orleans, and may become 
riotous and ungovernable if the hope of traffic be cut off by 
treaty."' The wisdom of the sage had already perceived 
that "whenever the new States become so populous and so 
extended to the westward as really to need it, there will be 
no power which can deprive them of the use of the Missis- 
sippi."' 

McDowell never made public the letter received by him 
until 1806, when he published a statement in vindication of 
Brown and of the conventions of 1788. Muter gave his let- 
ter in 1790 (and long after Miro had abandoned all hope and 
Gardoqui had gone back to Spain) to Marshall as material 

' Washington to Henry Lee. {Washington' s Writings, Vol. IX, p. l8o.) 
"Washington to Henry Lee. {Washington's Writings, Vol. IX, p. 173.) 



The Political Beginiiings of Kentucky. 1 75 

for a political campaign, incurring the contempt of violated 
confidence,' and at a later day the denunciation of those 
whose temporary purpose he had served, forfeiting in his 
old age the good opinion of all the prominent men of his 
adopted State. 

The Convention of July, 1788. 

When the convention already chosen in April met at 
Danville on 28th July, 1788, a quorum was lacking, and it 
was not till next day that the chairman laid before the con- 
vention the "sundry papers and resolutions of the Congress 
of the United States, addressed to Samuel McDowell, es- 
quire, late President of the Convention in Kentucky." The 
original MS. journal of proceedings has been found.' The 
proceedings were entirely harmonious, and under the wise 
and temperate guidance of McDowell as president, and 
Shelby as chairman of Committee of the Whole, a series of 
resolutions were adopted by unanimous vote.' 

The basis of the proceedings taken was a resolution intro- 

' Brtnvn's MS. Mcmoramium ai his statement ,is a witness in the proceedings against 
Sebastian. 

^Marshal', Hisfory of Kentucky, edition of 1824, Vol. II, p. 78. 

3 The MS. volume fortunately discovered and preserved by Col. R. T. Durrett, of 
Louisville, Ky., contains the original record of the Conventions of July, 1788, Novem- 
ber, 1788, July, 17S9. July, 1790, and of the Constilutionil Convention of April, 1792. 
It is wholly in the handwriting of Thomas Todd, afterward Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. 

* MS, Proceedings of Convention, 31st July, 178S. 



1 76 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

duced on the 30th, the author and mover of which was prob- 
ably Judge Caleb Wallace, then a Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the District,' the other members of which were 
McDowell and Muter. The memorandum of the proposi- 
tion reads as follows in the MS. journal of the convention : 

"A resolution, deciaring that the powers of this Cc"' :~""— so far as 
depends on the .Acts of the Legislature of Virginia wer td by the 

Resolutions of Congress, and resolving that it was the duty of this Con- 
vention as the Representatives of the people to proceed to frame a constitu- 
tion of Govemmetrt for this District, and to submit the same to their con- 
sideration with such adrice relative thereto as emergency suggests, was read. 

" Ordered that the said resolution be committed to a committee of the 
whole convention." ' 

It does not appear from the journal of the convention 
that this proposition was advocated or opposed with any 
heat There was general dissatisfaction at the failure of 
Congress to grant the former application for admission, but 
no traitorous purpose was charged by or against any public 
man. It was not until in after years political rivalries and 

" Christopher Greenup ^at one time Governor) deposed in the suit of Innes against 
Marshall in the Mercer Circuit Court, February, 1815, that Wallace introduced this 
resolution, and that he did so in the November convention of 178S. This is evidently 
a slip of memory or of the pen by which '-November" was substituted for "July;" for 
Wallace was a delegate in July though not one in November. Greenup uses this language: 
" I think ilr. Wallace submitted a resolution for proceeding to form a constitution and 
submitting it to Congress without applying again to the' State of Virginia, observing 
that she had already given her consent to the measure, and it would be saving lime." 
This accords with the original journal of July, 1783, though the name of the mover is 
not there given. 

'' MS. Journal of Cortventum, 30th July, 1788. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. i 7 7 

conflicting ambitions were added to old personal dislikes, 
that detraction and furious charges of every imaginable sort 
of wrongdoing set the country in an uproar. It is worth 
noticing at this point that even Thomas Marshall, afterward 
so strenuous in his denunciation of all who approved the 
immediate formation of a Constitution and an immediate 
application to Congress, was then in perfect accord with 
Wallace' as to the legality, propriety, and expediency of 
immediate action. 

The resolution thus referred to the Committee of the 
Whole was modified in the report made to the conven- 
tion. 

On the 31st July it is recorded in the MS. journal that 
"Mr. Shelby reported that the committee had taken into 
consideration the matters referred to them, and had come to 
a resolution thereon, which he read in his place and deliv- 
ered in at the Clerk's table, where it was again twice read 
and unanimously agreed to, as follows, viz: 

'In his deposition, given 15th September, 1813, in the suit of Innes og.iinst Mar- 
shall, Judge Caleb Wallace testified in this regard as follows: "This deponent does 
not recollect whether the late Colonel Thomas Marshall was or was not a member of 
the Convention which assembled at Danville in July, 17S8. But this deponent, about 
that time, or shortly before, heard Col. Marshall express great dissatisfaction witli Con- 
gress for having declined to decide on the application of the people of Kentucky to be 
erected into a separate State, ajid declared tliat he was clear for proceeding to form a 
constitution of government and establishing the District of Kentucky an Independent 
Stale, and then apply for its admission into the Union, not doubting but that it would 
be received without further delay, and this it was believed was the sentiment of several 
respectable citizens of the District, and of some who resided in other parts of the State 
of Virginia." 

23 



1 78 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

" Resolved, Whereas, It appears to the Members of this Convention that 
the United States in Congress assembled have for the present declined to 
ratify the compact entered into between the legislature of Virginia and the 
people of this District respecting the erection of the District into an Inde- 
pendent State, in consequence of which the powers vested in the Conven- 
tion are dissolved, and whatever order or resolution they pass can not be 
considered as having any legal force or obligation — But being anxious for 
the safety and prosperity of ourselves and constituents do earnestly recom- 
mend to the good people inhabiting the several counties within the District, 
each to elect five representatives on the times of holding their Courts in the 
month of October next, to meet at Danville on the first Monday in Novem- 
ber following, to continue in office until the first day of January, 1790; and 
that they delegate to their said representatives full powers to take such 
measures for obtaining admission of the District as a separate and inde- 
pendent member of the United States of America, and the navigation of 
the river Mississippi, as may appear most conducive to these important pur- 
poses: And also to form a constitution of government for the District and 
organize the same when they shall judge it necessary, or to do and accom- 
plish whatever on a consideration of the state of the District may in their 
opinion promote its interests. 

"Resolved, That the elections directed by the preceding resolution be 
held at the court house of each county, and continued from day to day for 
five days including the first day. 

" Resolved, That the sheriffs within the respective counties of this Dis- 
trict be requested to hold the said elections and make return thereof to the 
Clerk of the Supreme Court immediately after the same are finished, and 
also to deliver to each representative so elected a certificate of his elec- 
tion ; and in case there should be no sheriff in either of the said coun- 
ties, or he should refuse to act, that any two acting magistrates then 
present may superintend and conduct the said elections and make 
returns and grant certificates in the same manner that the sheriffs are 
requested to do. 

" Resolved, That every free male inhabitant of each county within tlie 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 79 

said District has a right to vote at the said elections within their respective 
counties. 

" Resolved, That a majority of the members so elected be a quorum to 
proceed to business. 

'• Resolved, That if the said convention should not make a house on 
the said first Monday in November, any three or more members then 
assembled may adjourn from day to day for five days next ensuing ; and 
if a convention should not be formed at the end of the fifth day, that 
they may then adjourn to any day they may think proper not exceeding 
one month. 

" Resolved, That the sheriffs of each county, or the said magistrates, as 
the case may be, read or cause to be read the aforesaid resolutions on each 
day of the elections, immediately preceding the opening of the said elec- 
tions. 

" Ordered, That the President do request the printer of the Kentucky 
Gazette to publish the proceedings and resolves of Congress by him laid 
before this Convention, also such part of the proceedings of this conven- 
tion as the President shall think proper, and in particular that the printer 
continue to publish weekly until the first of October next the recommenda- 
tion for electing another Convention, and the several resolutions relative 
thereto." 



The convention was not yet so divided into irritated fac- 
tions as to exchange wanton charges of public infidelity. 
The letter from Brown to Muter was known to Marshall and 
Edwards, and McDowell had its duplicate. The estimate of 
those who knew of the letter and its contents, and of the 
interview with Gardoqui, was expressed in a resolution for 
which Muter and Marshall voted along with every other 
delegate, and by which it was: 



i8o The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

" Ordered, That the President do wait on John Brown, Esquire, when 
he returns to this District, and in the most respectful terms express to him 
the obligations which this Convention and their constituents are under to 
him for his faithful attention to tlieir interest in Congress. 

" Ordered, ThJt the thanks of this Convention be given to Mr. Thomas 
Todd for his services as Clerk this session." ' 

From the orignal MS. journal of the July Convention of 
17S8 it is thus seen [as does not appear from Marshall's his- 
tory of the State, written twenty-three years after the occur- 
rences] that the convention was unanimous, and that it 
expressly and without dissent recognized the power of a 
convention to proceed upon the already given consent of 
Virginia to frame a Constitution and petition Congress for 
admission to the Union.' 

No apparent difference of opinion is discoverable among 
the members, save that Wallace thought the July Convention 

' MS. Journal Convention, July, 1788. 

''The resolutions of the convention of July, 1788, are incorrectly given in the draft 
published by Marshall. (History of Kentucky, Vol. I, pp. 325, 326, 327, edition of 1812.) 
He omits that important part of the paper which recites that the resolutions were 
"unanimously agreed to;" an omission necessary to the political argument pursued by 
him. The resolve of thanks to Brown is also left out. It is much to be regretted that 
so strong and well informed a writer as Marshall should have had so little of the true 
historic reverence for accuracy. The history of Marshall was not written until 1S12, 
twenty-four years after the event. During this period his sentiments toward Innes, 
Brown, Wallace, and Nicholas had been those of bitterest hostility, most cordially 
reciprocated by them. He really wrote his side of a personal quarrel and called it {and 
no doubt thought it) history. Mr. Roosevelt {;' Winning of the West") has recognized 
how this affects the trustworthiness of Marshall as an historical authority. Paxton, his 
relative, admits of Humphrey Marshall and his history, that "it is able and interesting, 
but prejudice and partisanship appear on every page. He was an overweening Feder- 
alist, and wrote more as a politician than as an impartial historian." {Paxton, Geneal- 
ogy, etc., of the Marshall Family, p. 81.) 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 8 1 

could do this. Shelby and others thought that a new con- 
vention should meet in November to accomplish the work. 
None seem to have doubted that a Constitution could first 
be framed, and the necessary action on the part of Congress 
and of Virginia, if requisite, taken afterward. Col. Thomas 
Marshall was a member acquiescing in this unanimous vote. 
So also were Muter and Edwards. All parties, even those 
who soon became unrelenting personal and political ene- 
mies, concurred in approving of a State organization to be 
effected in the coming November, and they had before them 
the precedent of Vermont, the already expressed willingness 
of Virginia, and the good will of the other States as show.n 
by the Continental Congress' resolution of 3d July. They 
were wise in view of the emergency, and were justifiable in 
view of the facts. " For," to use the temperate words of 
Butler in his History of Kentucky, "had a domestic govern- 
ment been organized after the repeated and harmonious 
co-operation of the great contracting parties [Virginia and 
Kentucky], it is not to be supposed that it would have been 
so technically misconstrued as to have been viewed as trea- 
sonable to Virginia or hostile to the Union, owing to re- 
peated and unavoidable accidents. The magnanimous tem- 
per of Virginia would have cured every thing." ' 

^ Buihr's History of Kentucky, edition of l8-i6, p. i6S. The action of another 
frontier people in after years is a good commentary upon the practical suggestions of 
Brown and Wallace, and goes far to prove how wise was that plan which looked to the 



1 8a The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The convention of July, having finished its session 
with the adoption of the resolutions calling yet another 
convention for November, adjourned. Its members sepa- 
rated in a spirit of harmony, agreed as they were, without 
a dissenting voice, upon the indicated plan for a speedy 
organization of the new State and its application for ad- 
mission into the Union. 



The flppearanee of Connolly in P^entueky. 

The interval between the adjournment of the convention 
of July and the convening of that called for November, 
1788, was marked by the appearance in Kentucky of an 
emissary empowered to cultivate a British interest and at- 
tach, as far as possible, prominent men to a scheme for a 
British alliance. 

Col. John Connolly made his way from Detroit to Ken- 
tucky, where he arrived in the beginning of October. He 
was known by report to the people of the West, and in no 

immediate framing of a Constitution and its presentation to Congress. Prof. Royce 
has excellently told the story of the formation of a State Government in California 
{History of California, American Commonweallli Series, 18S6, pp. 246-259). Like the pio- 
neers of Kentucky, the '49ers of California recognized and acted upon "the American 
political instinct." The chief military authority, Gen. Riley, recognizing the practical 
needs of the time, issued his proclamation without law therefor, called a convention, 
provided for orderly elections, the delegates met, and " the ponderous machinery of the 
Constitution was soon after in order and lightly running, notwithstanding all the pre- 
liminary wrangling among master workmen about plans and doctrines." 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 83 

pleasant way, for he had adhered to the British cause, and in 
1775 had been authorized by Lord Dunmore to raise and 
command a partisan regiment of Loyalists and Indians, to be 
called the " Loyal Foresters." On his way to the western 
frontiers, where his command was to act, he was arrested, and 
Dunmore's instructions for the enrollment of his resfiment 
found concealed in the handle of his satchel. He was cast 
into prison and kept there until near the close of the war. 
He was a native of Lancaster County, Penn., a physician by 
profession, and one of the best informed men of his times 
about the western country. It was he who selected and 
secured a patent in 1773 for the two thousand acres of land 
at the Falls of the Ohio, on which the city of Louisville was 
first laid out, and he was the conspicuous sufferer by its con- 
fiscation under the verdict of a jury, of which Boone was 
one. Wilkinson imagined that the purpose of the visit 
was to win over himself, and met Connolly with a show 
of friendliness that drew from him an avowal of the British 
plan. It was, in brief to assist the western settlers in 
opening the Mississippi to navigation by equipping, arm- 
ing, and paying a force of ten thousand men to move down 
the river against New Orleans, where a British fleet would 
co-operate. Connolly, in the name of Lord Dorchester, 
promised honors and rewards to such men of influence 
as would fall into the scheme, and military rank in the 



1 84 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

British army equal to that which had been held by them 
in the American service." 

His errand was cloaked under the pretense of looking 
after the valuable lands once owned by him at the Falls of 
the Ohio, and confiscated because of his adherence to the 
cause of the Crown in the Revolutionary struggle. He 
concealed his mission so adroitly that its true purpose was 
communicated to but three persons besides Wilkinson. 
These were Thomas Marshall, George Muter, and Charles 
Scott." 

The true purpose of the British agent's journey to Ken- 
tucky was not divulged to the public for many years after- 
ward, nor was any eminent public man intrusted with the 
secret for several months.^ It was in February, 1789, that 
Col. Thomas Marshall, in the same letter which intimated his 
suspicion that Brown favored separation from the Union and 

' Wilkinson to Miro, 1 2th February, 1789. (Gayarre, History Louisiatia, Spanish Dom- 
ination, pp. 235, 236.) 

' Col. Thomas Marshall's Letter to Washington, 12th February, 1789. It will be 
found ill Butler, History of Kentucky, edition 1836, Appendi.v pp. 520, 521. 

'The former acquaintance of Connolly and Thomas Marshall, and the circum- 
stances of the visit of the former to Marshall's home in (what is now) Woodford County, 
are detailed by A. K. Marshall (son of Thomas) in the "Western ll'orlii" newspaper 
for 25th October, 1806, in one of the innumerable articles filled with charge and coun- 
tercharge that were then so fashionable in political controversy. From this statement 
it is clear that Connolly made to Thomas Marshall, in October, 1788, direct overtures 
for a severance from the Union and a State organization under British protection. It 
is not to be asserted that Marshall agreed; every presumption is to the contrary. Noth- 
ing in his history warrants a suspicion of his devotion to American nationality. He 
did not, however, inform Washington of what had occurred till February, 1789, four 
months later. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 85 

alliance with Spain, admitted to Washington his own inter- 
view (in October, 1788) with Connolly, and the discussion 
between them, Muter participating, of an establishment of 
commercial and military alliance with England : 

" He (Connolly) presently entered upon his subject, urged the great im- 
portance the navigation of the Mississippi must be to the inhabitants of the 
Western waters, shewed the absolute necessity of our possessing it, and 
concluded with assurances that, were we disposed to assert our rights re- 
specting the navigation, Lord Dorchester was cordially disposed to give us 
powerful assistance; that his Lordship had {\ think he said) four thousand 
troops in Canada besides two regiments at Detroit, and could furnish us with 
arms, ammunition, clothing, and money ; that with his assistance we might 
possess ourselves of New Orleans, fortify the Balize at the mouth of the river, 
and keep possession in spite of tlie utmost efforts of Spain to the contrary. 
He made very confident professions of Lord Dorchester's wishes to culti- 
vate the most friendly intercourse with the people of this country. ; . . At 
taking his leave he begged very politely the favor of our correspondence ; 
we both promised him, provided he would begin it, and devise a means of 
carrying it on." ' 

The mission of Connolly to Kentucky resulted in noth- 
ing of practical worth to the British interest. But he was 
able to turn a few minds to the contemplation of an English 
Protectorate, and to elicit some correspondence from those 
with whom he had conferred, and so to bring vividly before 
his government the schemes of Spain and the designs of 

■ 'J'/ionias Marshall to Washinglon, I2th February, 1789; Butler, History of Ken- 
tucky, edition of 1S36, Appendix, p. 520. 

24 



1 86 Tlie Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

intelligent French agents. Its story may be briefly sketched 
before resuming the thread of the narrative of convention 
history. 

The news brought back by Connolly to Detroit in the 
winter of 1788 slowly found its way to Lord Dorchester at 
Quebec. Its pith was sent, in the early spring of 1789, to 
Lord Sydney. Dorchester, on the nth April, 1789, wrote 
that he was informed of the friendly feeling manifested by 
the Spanish officials at New Orleans toward certain Ken- 
tuckians, and that special permits had been issued for the 
transportation of quantities of tobacco down the Missis- 
sippi, to be purchased on the King's account. He adverted 
to the invitation extended at d'Arees' susrafestion to such 
Americans as might contemplate settling along the river 
between the thirty-first and thirty-third parallels. After 
referring to Morgan's colony at New Madrid, and the corres- 
pondence established with New Orleans, and the apprehen- 
sion still prevalent that Congress would surrender in a 
Spanish treaty the navigation of the Mississippi, he used 
this language: 

" In a late Convention, held at Danville, it has been proposed by those 
who are gained over to the Spanish views to throw themselves under the 
protection of that power. 

" But the general result of more private councils among them is said to 
be to declare Independence of the Federal Union, take possession of New 
Orleans, and look to Great Britain for such assistance as might enable them 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. \ 8 7 

to accomplish these designs. A Committee of private correspondence has 
been appointed by them to influence all the inhabitants west of the moun- 
tains in the same measures. 

" I enclose some of their political reflexions on the state of affairs in the 
Western country." ' 

The inclosure thus forwarded by Dorchester to London 
presents a hitherto unproved fact in the history of the West. 
It demonstrates that a sentiment, limited no doubt in extent, 
had been established by Connolly's efforts, and that a few 
prominent men were inclined to look with complacency 
upon the suggested British protectorate. 

It reads as follows: 

/ 

"Desultory reflections by a gentleman of Kentucky. 

" I. The River Mississippi being the channel by which the Western set- 
tlements of America must export their products, we may form a just esti- 
mate of the importance of this channel by casting our eyes over a map 
comprehending that vast and luxuriant country watered by its branches. 

" 2. As the balance inclines the beam, the Atlantic States of America 
must sink as the Western settlements rise. Nature has interposed obstacles 
and established barriers between these regions which forbid their connec- 
tion on principles of reciprocal interest, and the flimsy texture of repub- 
lican government is insufficient to hold in the same political bonds a people 
detached and scattered over such an expanse of territory, whose views and 
interests are discordant. 

"3. Thus local causes, irresistible in their nature, must produce a seces- 

^ Dorchester to Sydney, No. 107, nth April, 1789, MS. Canadian Archives, Colonial 
Office Records, Series Q., Vol. XLI, p. 283. A copy of this despatch, furnished by Mr. 
Brymner. is givci\ in the appendix. 



1 88 TJie Political Beginnings of Kejitiicky. 

sion of the Western settlements from tlie Atlantic States, and the period is 
not very distant. But these people must for ages continue agricultural ; of 
consequence foreign protection will be expedient to their happiness, and 
this protection must necessarily comprehend the right of navigating the Mis- 
sissippi, with a marine to protect its commerce. That power which com- 
mands the navigation of the Mississippi as completely commands the whole 
country traversed by its waters as the key does the lock, the citadel the 
outworks. 

"4. The politics of the Western Country are verging fast to a crisis, and 
must speedily eventuate in an appeal to the patronage of Spain or Britain. 
No interruption can be apprehended from Congress, the seditious temper 
and jarring of the Atlantic States forbid general arrangements for the pub- 
lic good, and must involve a degree of imbecility, distraction, and capricious 
policy which a high toned monarchy can alone remedy, but the revolutions 
and changes necessary to reconcile the people to such a government must 
involve much delay. Great Britain ought to prepare for the occasion, and 
she should emjjloy the interval in forming confidential connexions with men 
of enterprize, capacity, and popular influence resident on the Western 
Waters." " 

' Dorchester to Sydney, No. 107, nth April, 1789, enclosure. This communicilion 
to Lord Dorchester, through his agent, has not before been publiiheci. It must natur- 
ally excite curiosity as to its authorship, a curiosity not likely to be easily satisfied. 
The Canadian archives, of which this is a part, are copies taken from originals in the 
Colonial Office at London, so that inspection of handwriting is difficult to be had. Yet 
it is well established that Connolly conferred with no more than four men of importance 
in Kentucky, Gen. James Wilkinson, Gen. Charles Scott, Col. Thomas Marshall, and 
Judge George Muter. The mind naturally turns to one of these as the probable author. 
Wilkinson seems excluded from the list of probable authors, as well by the concise 
style of the paper, so different in construction from his usual ditifuse productions, as by 
the fact that he was fully committed to Spain. And his committal was the more binding 
because he liad large pecuniary profit in his intrigue, and his political affiliations were 
in no small degree controlled by financial considerations. Scott was a brave, straight- 
forward soldier, ever found reliable, brave, and trutliful. His literary accomplishments 
were utterly unequal to the production of such a paper. There is left the unpleasant 
suggestion that Thomas Marshall or George Muter was its author. There is no positive 
proof that either did, yet the circumstance remains that they were the only others 
who conferred with Connolly, and that Marshall admits his agreement to correspond 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 89 

While Dorchester was thus apprised of the favor shown 
Wilkinson by Miro (which indeed was no secret), and flat- 
tered with the hope of establishing a British party in the 
Ohio Valley, another fact came to his knowledge that quite 
disturbed him. His agents procured a copy of an able 
paper that had been transmitted to the French Minister at 
New York, and he hastened to transmit it to his own gov- 
ernment' 

He rightly judged that it was "written by a man of judg- 
ment," and that its proposition " to induce France to take 
possession of New Orleans, and thereby to secure to herself 
all the trade of that vast country, was one deserving a states- 
man's consideration. He repeated how "some discontented 
persons of consideration" had "caught the idea that Great 
Britain might be placed in the room of France," and "had 
made offers of their service to brins; it about." The over- 
ture to Great Britain seemed to be gaining, for "some dis- 

with Connolly upon political sulijects. The reader must in justice remember that the 
entire history of Thomas Marshall's life is inconsistent with a treasonable intent. If 
he or Muter were indeed the writer the pen did certainly outrun cool judgment and 
real political desire. The method of Humphrey Marshall's history applied to their 
complications would do t'.iem cruel injustice. 

^ Dci-chestei- to SyjKcy. Secret Despatch A'o 112, 7th June, 1789, Canadian Archives, 
Colonial Ojfice Records, Series Q, Vol, XLII, p. 13, with enclosure of copy of the French 
paper. For the text see appendix. The name of the writer of the memorial addressed 
to the French Minister is not given, nor is it possible to ascertain it with certainty. A 
somewhat plausible conjecture might be hazarded that it was from the pen of Creve- 
cceur. .sometime French consul at New York, who traveled through Kentucky in 1787- 
88. But the writer and his friends of the Filson Club incline to the opinion that Tar- 
deveau was its author. 



1 90 The Political Beginnings of Kettlucky. 

contented persons of consideration, he said, "proposed 
going into the Western Country, and were convinced that 
by their influence they could effect a separation of it from 
the Atlantic States, provided England would supply arms 
and ammunition," and (as he doubted not would be asked) 
"money for private or public purposes." 

So serious was the impression made on Lord Dorchester, 
that he speedily procured from some evidently well-informed 
resident a paper of detailed ''Observations upon the Colony of 
Kentucky"' in which a mass of information likely to be useful, 
should negotiations become serious, was condensed. Its 
author's name was not divulged, but the paper indicates a 
well-informed and educated resident of the District, one 
familiar with affairs and accustomed to act in public matters. 

From these sources of information it is ascertained that 
three great powers were actively interested in the probable 
political fate of the West in the autumn of 1788. 

Spain had her double plan ; for Miros hopes were in 
Wilkinson, and Gardoqui, as he said, reposed unbounded 
confidence in Morgan and the colony at New Madrid. Eng- 
land, through Connolly, had certainly committed some to the 
scheme of her protectorate. France had her agents to cul- 
tivate popular approval of the scheme under which she 

'Tliese "Observations upon the Colony of Kentucky^' were transmitted enclosed in the 
despatch of Dorchester to Sydney, No. 126, 27th Aufjust. 17S9, Canadian Archives, Colo- 
nial Office Records, Series Q., Vol. XLII, p. 83, and are printed in the appendix. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 1 9 1 

might, by friendly concession on the part of Spain, resume 
possession of New Orleans, smoothing all resentments by 
guaranteeing to the Americans a free right of navigation, 
and to the Spaniard perfect security against American intru- 
sion into the territory west of the Mississippi. 

The new State was to be saved from each of the three. 
And the only escape from the peril of foreign influence was 
the immediate organization as a Commonwealth, and admis- 
sion without delay into the Federal Union. 

It seems passing strange that the quarter-sessions law 
argument made by Muter in the letter he published about 
the time of Connolly's visit to himself and Marshall, and 
which went forth to affect the convention of November, 
could have induced the convention to defer a step so critic- 
ally important. And it is equally strange that Muter and 
Marshall, fully informed as they professed to be of the dan- 
ger from Spanish influence, and themselves having conferred 
with the British agent, should have put forth so technical an 
objection to the immediate framing of a Constitution and 
application for admission to the Union. 

Every consideration of public safety and loyalty demand- 
ed that unanimity which Brown invoked in the convention of 
November, and the adoption without delay of the Constitu- 
tion which he had sketched, which Jefferson and Madison 
had revised and approved, and he was prepared to offer. 



192 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The Convention of fJovembeP, 1788. 

The recommendation that members be chosen for a con- 
vention that should exercise plenary powers was received 
with universal favor. Candidates ti ok the field. As the 
time for elections approached, a long letter addressed by 
Judge Muter to the " Kentucky Gazette" made its appear- 
ance on the 15th October, asserting that the plan suggested, 
of immediately framing a Constitution and asking admission 
to the Union, was full of danger and illegality, and even 
smacked of high treason against the Commonwealth of Vir- 
ginia. Coming as it did from the Chief Justice of the 
District, this declaration attracted much attention and car- 
ried much weight. His brother Judges, McDowell and 
Wallace, did not, it would seem, share his view, but they had 
not sufficient time to reach the people by counter-publica- 
tion, if indeed they cared to rush into print. 

Judge Muter contended that to form a Constitution and 
to organize for government "before the consent of the legis- 
lature of Virginia for that purpose first obtained," would be 
directly in the teeth of the Virginia Statute denouncing as 
high treason the setting up of governments within her lim- 
its. He criticised the large powers which the new conven- 
tion was intended to wield, because under them it might, he 
said, be argued that the convention could treat with Spain to 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 193 

obtain the navigation of the Mississippi, should it seem con- 
ducive to the public interest to do so, a proceeding which he 
judged to be repugnant to the Constitution. He argued 
that the delegates should be instructed not to form a Consti- 
tution or provide an organization of local government until 
Virginia could give consent, and to make no application 
whatever directed to obtaining the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi other than to the legislature of Virginia and the Con- 
gress of the United States. 

The letter of Judge Muter had the support of Col. 
Thomas Marshall after its publication, probably before. It 
does not appear what caused this change of opinion, and 
induced such strong opposition to the identical measures 
that had commanded their support and vote in the conven- 
tion of the preceding July. Col. Marshall was of strong and 
logical mind. Judge Muter was far from being self-reliant 
or tenacious of opinion. It may be almost read between the 
lines that the document was thought out by Col. Marshall. 

The legal obstacle thus suggested by the Chief Justice 
raised doubts in many minds that had not before perceived 
any difficulty. And the result was that the delegates who 
assembled in November, though all agreed as to the urgent 
necessity for a State Government and admission to the 
Union, were no longer unanimous in approval of immediate 
action. 

«5 



194 ^/^^ Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

Brown had returned to Kentucky and was sent as a dele- 
gate from the County of Mercer; McDowell, Greenup, 
Jouett, and Innes being his colleagues. From each of the 
then seven counties a full representation attended. Among 
the more distinguished were Wilkinson, Thomas Marshall, 
Muter, Crockett, and Allen, representing Fayette; Richard 
C. Anderson and Sebastian among the members from 
Jefferson; John Logan and Montgomery from Lincoln; 
William L'vine from Madison, and John Edwards from 
Bourbon. 

It was soon apparent that the unanimity of the former 
convention as to the expediency of prompt action no longer 
existed. It was still the hope of McDowell, Greenup, Brown, 
Innes, and others that the convention would proceed to the 
formation of a Constitution and make application to Con- 
gress for admission of the new State, trusting to Virginia to 
assent. Muter, Marshall, Edwards, and others were found 
opposed. The arguments put forth in Muter's public letter 
were used against every proposition for action, and they 
found adherents in such numbers as to make unanimity 
hopeless. 

The thoughts of Brown had long been employed upon 
the question of a form of fundamental government for the 
new West, and he had attended the convention prepared to 
present for its consideration a plan of Constitution that had 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 195 

engaged his thoughts for years," upon which he had taken 
the opinion of Jefferson, and to the revision of which Madi- 
son lent his aid. The draft of a Constitution which Madison 
had promised in May, and the thoughts which he promised 
to put in writing in September, though long delayed, came 
in time to be presented with the sanction of his name, had 
the convention proceeded in its work. In anticipation of 
that assemblage he again wrote to Brown in relation to the 
political topics that would be of critical importance to the 
men of Kentucky. His letter bears so directly on the much 
controverted action, purpose, and wishes of Brown (and with 
him Innes), that it may here properly be put in more access- 
ible form than the MS. It reads as follows: 

''Dear Sir : " ^^^^ York, Sep'r 26, 1788. 

"1 have been duly favored with yours of the 26th ulto from Pittsburg. 
I believe you are already pretty well acquainted with my ideas of govern- 
ment so far as they vary from the plan chalked out by Mr. Jefferson. But 
in compliance with your request on that subject I will take the first con- 
venient occasion of e.xplaining them in writing. The delay cannot, I pre- 
sume, be material, as the formation of a Government for Kentucky must 

'The framing of a Constitution for tlie new State they hoped .soon to organize 
was one of the subjects on which the members of the Political Club bestowed its labors. 
At its " Regular Meeting, Saturday, February 17, 17S7," it w.ns 

" Resolved, that a Committee be appointed 10 prepare a Bill of Rights and Constitution or form 
of Government, which they shall think agreeable to and convenient with the local situation of this 
District, and make report, and that Mr. Innes, .Mr. Brown, Mr. Greenup, Mr. Belli, and Mr. Todd be 
a Committee for the same." 

The preparation thus made was very probably the sketch which Brown submitted 
to Jefferson. 



196 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

already be concluded, or suspended for reasons which will not cease imme 
diately. On the other subject which employed our confidential conversa- 
tion, just before your departure, you are also possessed of my sentiments. 
It has been frea_uently since in my mind as its importance made unavoidable, 
and the first impressions have been in no degree weakened by my reflec- 
tions. Having no cypher concerted with you, it would perhaps be improper 
to commit my thoughts to a letter which is to pass through so precarious a 
conveyance. It will be sufficient to say that I anticipate every political 
calamity from the event which was for the first time suggested to my con- 
templation ; and that I cannot but persuade myself that it will by degrees 
be viewed in all quarters as no less unnecessary than it certainly is critical 
and hazardous. Besides a variety of considerations which encourage this 
persuasion, and which being well known need not be mentioned, I will add 
with pleasure the two following resolutions lately passed in Congress, which 
wear a very different aspect from some former proceedings, and which I 
sincerely believe are the result of the real opinions which prevail on the 
subject : 

"'In Congress, Sepr 16, 17S8. 

'"On the report of the Committee, &c., to whom was referred the report of the 
Secy of F affairs, on a motion of the Delegates of North Carolina stating the uneasi- 
ness produced by a report that Congress are disposed to treat with Spain for the sur- 
render of their claim to the navigation of the River Mississippi, and proposing a Reso- 
lution intended to remove such apprehensions: 

"'Resolv'd, That the said report not being founded in fact, the Delegates are at 
liberty to communicate all such circumstances as may be necessary to contradict the 
same and to remove misconceptions. 

"'Resolv'd, That the free navigation of the River Mississippi is a clear and essen- 
tial right of the United States, and ought to be considered and supported as such.' 

•'The terms of the last resolution, and particularly the word essential, 
which was not inserted without attention to its force, mark in strongest 
terms the light in which the subject is now regarded. In addition to these 
acts is another entered on the secret journal, but tacitly allowed to be con- 
fidentially communicated, which explicitly forbids any further negotiation 
with Spain, and hands over the business with this assertion of right to the 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 197 

ensuing government. We have no late intelligence from Europe, nor have 
I anything further to add at present than that I am, with the sincerest esteem 
and attachment, your friend and servant. 

"JS. MADISON, Jr.'" 



It is an interesting episode in Kentucky history that the 
task of laying down the lines of her Constitution should 
have enlisted the solicitude of Jefferson and Madison 
through the intervention of Brown. The draft sketched by 
Brown and elaborated by Jefferson was revised by Madison. 
It was ready for presentation to the convention. Unfortu- 
nately the MS. of the proposed Constitution has eluded all 
the search made for it.' It is supposed to have perished in 
the burning of the public offices at Frankfort. 

It is much to be regretted that the plan so matured did 
not gain so much as a hearing in the convention of 1788. 

It seems to have been agreed that the immediate forma- 
tion of a State Constitution could not be undertaken in the 
divided state of opinion as to its strict legality. 

The proceedings of this convention, though republished 

' Madison to Brown, 26lh September, 17SS. MS. in the writer's possession. 

' Madison wrote to Brown from New York under date 12th October, 1788: " I find 
by the act of your late convention that another is to take place in November, with power 
to prepare a form of jjovernment for Kentucky. In consequence of this information I 
shall forthwith execute the request contained in your letter from Fort I'ilt, and forward 
the remarks on Mr. Jefferson's dr.ift by the next mail. I am sorry it is not in my power 
to do so by this. The delay proceeded from an idea that the subject would have been 
previously decided in Kentucky, or not immediately resumed." (MaJison to Brcrj^n, 
New York, 12th October, 1788. MS.) This letter has heretofore been published. (Lit- 
tell, Political Transactions, 6^c., p. 74.) 



rgS The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

in 1806,' are but imperfectly stated by Marshall in his histo- 
ry.' A reference to the MS. journal is needed to correct his 
omissions and show certain important connections between 
the occurrences.' The debate, from Marshall's account, 
must have been elaborate. He was not a delegate, nor, 
so far as can be gathered from his writings, was he pres- 
ent, but the entries on the journal (such as "after some 
time spent" in Committee of the Whole) corroborate his 
statement in this regard. 

On the third day of its session (Wednesday, 5th Novem- 
ber, 1788) the convention received petitions from Mercer 
and Madison counties "praying that a manly and spirited 
address be sent to Congress to obtain the navigation of the 
river Mississippi." These requests were referred to the 
Committee of the Whole on the State of the District. A 
special committee was the same day raised, consisting of 
Edwards, Marshall, Muter, Jouett, Allen, and Wilkinson, 
charged with the preparation of "a decent and respectful 
address to the Assembly of Virginia for obtaining an Inde- 
pendence of the District of Kentucky, agreeable to the late 
resolution and recommendation of Congress." 

The debate upon the petitions concerning the navigation 
of the Mississippi was had next day, Innes being chairman 

'^ Liltell, Political Transactions, Appendix No. XIX, p. 41. 
'^Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 356, edition of 1812. 
3 Original MS. Journal, Convention of November, 1 7S8. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. i gg 

of the Committee of the Whole. Upon his report and 
motion the convention 

" Resolved, As the opinion of this Committee, that the petitions from 
the Couniies of Madison and Mercer, praying the Convention to prepare an 
address to Congress for procuring the navigation of the river Mississippi, 
are reasonable, and that a decent and respectful address be prepared re- 
questing Congress to take immediate and effective measures for procuring 
the navigation of the said river, agreeable to the prayer of the said petitions." 

The duty of preparing this paper was committed to 
Innes, Wilkinson, Marshall, Muter, Brown, Sebastian, and 
Morrison. 

At this point, and before the committees were ready with 
their reports, the MS. journal notes the following resolution, 
which it is certainly strange that Marshall should not allude 
to while rehearsing the conduct of his enemy: 

"A motion was made by Mr. Brown for the convention to come to the 
following resolution, viz : 

'• Resolved, That it is the wish and interest of the good people of this 
District to separate from the State of Virginia, and that the same be erected 
into an independent member of the Federal Union." ' 

Its purpose was obvious. It was the prelude, should the 
convention agree, to the formation of a grand committee for 

^ MS.Jouriia', Convention of November, 178S — 6th November, 1788. The reprint 
in Littell is accurate. (Lil/ell, Poliiicai Tmiisaclions. Appendix XIX.) In the appendix 
to this paper will be found a copy taken directly from the original MS. 



200 The Political Begin7tings of Kentucky. 

considering the draft of a Constitution which Brown was 
ready to introduce, backed by the approbation of Jefferson 
and Madison. It was the most significant movement made 
in the convention. 

Marshall does not copy or mention this resolution, nor 
does Butler. All subsequent writers have perpetuated their 
neglect. Its suppression deprives Brown of his real avowal 
of political principle and plan made on the floor of the con- 
vention ' and at the time. To leave it out was to dispense 
with the most interesting feature of the convention, and to 
lose the key to the political purpose of the author and his 
friends. 

On the loth November, Wilkinson, chairman of com- 
mittee, reported "An address to the United States in Con- 
gress assembled." 

It appealed for consideratiop and protection "as freemen, 
as citizens, and as part of the American Republic." It set 
out with somewhat florid yet effective rhetoric the difficulties 
that environed the Western people, the wealth of their soil, 
the teeming abundance of their crops, and the total paralysis 
of every thing like commerce. It argued the right natural 
and by treaty of river navigation, demonstrated its absolute 
nece.ssity, and implored Congress to take measures to secure 

' Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I. p. 356, etc., edition of I§I2, gives an 
account of this convention, but does not .illude to this resolution. 



The Political Beginitings of Kentucky. 201 

it to the people of tlie whole country. The address was 
received with general favor and immediately adopted. 

The address to the legislature of Virginia was ne.xt re- 
ported by Mr. Innes, and "agreed to nemitii contradicaile" 
Its tone was loyal, and its expressions respectful and judi- 
cious. The sentiment of the convention which unanimously 
adopted it may be gathered from its opening paragraph, in 
which 

"The representatives of the good people inhabiting the several counties 
composing the District of Kentucky, in Convention met, beg leave again 
to address you on the great and important subject of their separation from 
the parent state, and being made a member of the Federal Union." ' 

The address proceeded to set forth that 

" Being fully impressed with these ideas and justified by frequent e.xam- 
ples, we conceive it our duty as freemen, from the regard we owe to our 
constituents, and being encouraged by the Resolutions of Congress, again 
to appeal to your honorable body praying that an act may pass at the jires- 

'Tliis "Address to the Legislature of Virginia" is given by M.irsliall (Vol. I. p. 
379, edition of 1812), but lie uncandidly omits to mention tliat his enemy, Inne.s, was 
its mover. The MS. journal of the convention explicitly recites that Innes, as chair- 
man of the committee, reported the address, "which he read in his place and deliv- 
ered in to the clerk's table, where it was again twice read and amended and agreed to 
tumini coniradicenle" Butler scarcely notices the paper, and apparently made little or 
no exploration of original sources. Litlell [J'olit.cal Tiamaclions, &fc.) published, in 
1806, the entire journal of this convention. His work was an answer to newspaper 
attacks, emanating from Humphrey Marshall and Street, directed against Innes and 
Brown. Tlie book was avowedly based on documentary evidence furnished by Innes 
and Brown. Marshall knew of it, and its preparation and authorship, as appears from 
his questions to witnesses in the suit of Innes against Marshall. As already observed, 
Littell's book is very rare. It is doubtful if more than half a dozen copies exist. 

26 



202 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

ent session for enabling the good people of the Kentucky District to obtain 
an independent government, and be admitted into the confederation as a 
member of the Federal Union, upon such terms and conditions as may 
appear just and equitable. . . . We again solicit the friendly interposition 
of the parent state with the Congress of the United States for a speedy 
admission of the District into the Federal Union, and also to urge that hon- 
orable body in the most express terms to take effective measures for procur- 
ing to the Inhabitants of this District the free navigation of the River 
Mississippi." ' 



After a vote of thanks to Wilkinson for his paper on the 
navigation of the Mississippi, the convention closed its ses- 
sion by an adjournment till the first Monday in the ensuing 
August. 

The parting of its members was not the kindly one of 
the preceding July. Angry taunts of inconsistency had 
been made against Judge Muter and Col. Marshall. In turn 
they branded those who differed from them as traitors. The 
visit of Connolly to Marshall was suggested to be a British 
intrigue, and with equal heat the conversation of Brown with 
Gardoqui was declared to be a Spanish conspiracy. Col. 
Marshall went so far as to write to Washington (12th Feb- 
ruary, 1789), detailing what had occurred in the convention, 
and giving his version of what Brown had there said. Innes, 
in like manner, warned Washington (loth December, 1788) 

^ MS. Journal of Convention, Monday, lotli November, 178S, also by Littell, Political 
Transactions, &!'c., Appendix XIX, and an appendix to this paper. 



The Polilical Beginnings of Kentucky. 203 

of the British intrigue. It was not until 1835 that Sparks 
gave both letters and the judicious replies of Washington. 

When the journal of the convention is thus scanned, and 
the sworn testimony of its prominent actors examined; tes- 
timony taken in causes that involved the bitterest contro- 
versy as to the proceedings of that convention and the sen- 
timents of its prominent members, it is astonishing to note 
how much the history of the time has been distorted and the 
sentiments, acts, and speeches of men misrepresented. The 
story of the convention of November, 1788, as told by Mar- 
shall' has been followed by Butler' with but a mild protest 
against the vigorous personal feeling of the man who wrote 
in his anger what was published as history. Since Butler, 
whose original research was not minute, no compiler or 
writer has cared to look into the original sources of informa- 
tion or test the accuracy of Marshall's account of this 
assembly, so important in the annals of Kentucky. It is 
time that his historical faults of omission and commission 
be scrutinized in the light of testimony more persuasive 
than mere denunciation. The purpose of Marshall in writ- 
ing his History of Kentucky was to fix upon Brown and 
Innes, whom he profoundly disliked, a guilty purpose to 
bring the West under Spanish dominion. 

^Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 356, edition of 1S12. 
^Bullir, History of Kentucky, p. 170, &c., edition of 1836. 



204 The Political Beginnings of Kentticky. 

He was not a member of either of the conventions of 1 788, 
nor did he profess to have personal knowledge of what took 
place at the sessions. He does not appeal to contemporary 
notes, nor vouch the statement of any delegate. When his 
account is closely examined it will be apparent to such as 
are patient to endure the labor of the comparison, that for 
documentary facts he went no further than such extracts 
from the journals as were published in the Kentucky 
Gazette at the time. He cites no authority beyond this, 
pursues no investigation more searching, refers to no orig- 
inal records, and invokes the evidence of no participant in 
the debates, though many were accessible, and not a i&w 
sworn as witnesses in hotly contested suits. A strife of 
more than twenty-five years had so irritated him that he 
wrote his book, mistaking anger for proof and controversy 
for history. But a calmer consideration will correct the 
error. 

Whatever mark Brown made in the convention is to be 
found in the entry on the journals of the resolution offered 
by him, to wit: 

" Resolved, That it is the wish and interest of the good people of this 
District to separate from the State of Virginia, and that the same be erected 
into an indeiiendent member of the Federal union." ' 

^MS. Jiuiriial of Proceeilings, 6th November, 17SS. S:ime in Littcll, Appeiidi.x XIX, 
and appendix hereto. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 205 

It was the first movement declaratory of polic}- that was 
taken in the convention. It was evidently made with due 
purpose, and because of that Hne of policy and conduct 
upon which he and Madison had agreed. It served to 
commit the body to a clear and succinctly defined loyal pur- 
pose. It was the basis for introducing the draft of Constitu- 
tion which Jefferson and Madison had revised. The omis- 
sion of this fact by Marshall is unjust, disingenuous, and 
misleading. If any weight is to attach to what actually 
occurred, Brown is absolved by the secretary's record of the 
charge that Marshall preferred, and is proved to be the advo- 
cate of separation from Virginia coupled with admission 
into the Union. Candor would have drawn the same con- 
clusion from Brown's letter to Muter, and would have at- 
tached importance to its expression that "time alone can 
determine how far the new government will answer the 
e.xpectations of its friends. My hopes are sanguine; the 
change was necessary."' 

No less unfair is Marshall's total failure to mention Innes 
as the reporter of the address to the legislature of Virginia. 
That address is replete with sentences that declare the ar- 
dent desire of the people of the District to be received into 
the Union as an independent State upon the consent and 

^ Brown to Muter, as given by Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 340, edition 
of 1812. 



2o6 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

recommendation of Virginia. Mention of Innes as its mover 
and advocate would have vindicated his patriotism, his loy- 
alty, and his moderation, and would have disproved all the 
suspicions that Marshall cherished. 

And the further fact, apparent from the journal," that 
the address prepared and reported by Innes was "agreed to 
nemini contradicente" would have suggested to a more can- 
did historian that he who introduced and advocated that 
paper did not deserve the denunciation leveled against him 
as a disloyal conspirator, especially as his views were sup- 
ported by the unanimous vote of the convention. 

It might, perhaps, be suggested in excuse for such omis- 
sions that Marshall, while preparing his history, had not 
access to the original journals of the convention, nor accu- 
rate information of what was said and done. But he pub- 
lished his book in 1812, and certainly knew, after 1806, 
the exact text of the journals through Littell's publication 
made that year, and avowed to be an appeal to documentary 
evidence." 

A more serious wrong than any omission, casual or pur- 
posed, is, that without any warrant that can be found in the 
journals of the convention or in the evidence of any of the 

^ MS. Journal, Proceediuj^s of Noi'ember, 178S. Same in Liltetl, Appendix XIX, and 
in appendix hereto. 

^'^Po itical Transactictts in and Concerning Kentucky, from the first settlement thereof 
until it became an indrpenwnt State, in June, 1792. By William Littell, Esq., Frankfort 
(Ky). From the press of William Hunter, Printer to the Commonwealth. 1806." 



The Political Beginnhigs of Kentucky. 207 

delegates who testified, Marshall assumed to give, in the form 
of a quotation, the ipsissima verba of an alleged utterance 
made by Brown in the convention of November, 1788, and 
upon it to found the argument of treasonable intent. 

In putting forth the first volume of his History in 181 2, 
Marshall, in detailing the proceedings of the convention of 
November, 1788, asserts that Brown used the following lan- 
guage, which he carefully puts in quotation marks and marks 
with the emphasis of italics: 

"That he did not think himself at Uberty to disclose what had passed in 
private conferences between the Spanish minister, Mr. Gardoqiii, and him- 
self; but this much, in general, he would venture to inform the convention, 
that, provided we are unanimous, everything we could wish for is within 
our reach." ' 

The original journal has been scrupulously examined, 
and nothing suggestive of such an utterance is there to be 
found. 

The files of the Kentucky Gazette, which as public 
printer published the proceedings of the convention, contain 
nothing of the kind, nor any allusion that can by stretch of 
ingenuity be supposed to point to such a speech." 

During the lifetime of Col. Thomas Marshall (father of 

^Ahirshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 359, edition of 1812. 

^The only complete file of the Kentucky Gazette is in the Public Library at Lex- 
ington. 



2o8 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

the great Chief Justice), who died in 1803, nothing warrant- 
ing the alleged "quotation" was ever published by him or 
upon his authority. In 1806, after his death, his private 
letter of 12th February, 1789, addressed to Washington, was 
printed. It was too late then to test the accuracy of the 
words used or try his judgment of the facts by cross-exam- 
ination. But delegates, members of the convention of No 
vember, \ 788, not a few of whom survived, were called to 
the witness-stand, and, under the sanction of their oaths, 
repelled the charge which the "quotation" insinuated. 

One just inference was drawn by Marshall and commu- 
nicated to Washington from the declarations of Gardoqui, 
the Spaniard, to John Brown, and those of Connolly, the 
Englishman, to Thomas Marshall and George Muter, for he 
said: 

" It appears plain to me that the offers of Lord Dorchester, as well as 
those of Spain, are founded on a supposition that it is a fact that ue are 
about to separate from the Union, else why are those offers not made to 
Congress? We shall, I fe.ir, never be safe from the machinations of our 
enemies, as well internal as external, until we have a separate State and are 
admitted into the Union as a federal member." ' 

An observation based upon commonest justice to two 
very different and unfriendly men is suggested by this letter 
of Col. Marshall. 

'^ Thomas Marshall to Washington, I2th Febi-uary, 1789. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 209 

Brown had heard from Gardoqui in July the Spanish 
offer based on separation from the Union. Marsliall heard 
from Connolly in October the British offer, meaning the 
same thing as he construed it. 

Brown recognized the public danger that might come 
from divulging Gardoqui's plan. Marshall seems to have 
taken the same view concerning Connolly's plan. 

Brown took into his confidence only two men in Ken- 
tucky, George Muter and Samuel McDowell. Marshall 
took into his confidence only two men in Kentucky, George 
Muter and Charles Scott. 

Brown lost no time in counseling with Madison, to whom 
he detailed Gardoqui's conversation. Marshall, not so 
promptly, but not very greatly delaying, wrote to Washing- 
ton the outlines of Connolly's offer. 

Brown judged it highly inexpedient to narrate even to 
the sovereignty convention of November what Gardoqui had 
said, for he feared lest rash men might make trouble by 
advocating what Gardoqui proposed. Marshall prudently 
said nothing in that convention, nor publicly, concerning 
Connolly and his plan, for he feared that the captivating 
suggestion of a raid southward, and of arms, money, equip- 
ment, and military rank, might embroil the whole country in 
foreign complications. 

The parallel is a singularly exact one, and neither of the 

27 



2 lo The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

men harbored a disloyal thought. They were both zealous 
for their country and honest in their service of it. 

It is to be regretted that they were not equally just one 
toward the other. 

Brown never allowed himself to question the patriotism 
of Thomas Marshall. As lines of public policy were laid 
down under the new government they drifted into the diver- 
gencies that marked the school of Adams from that of Jef- 
ferson. Personal estrangement continued during their lives. 
But nothing in print or speech or correspondence escaped 
Brown asserting^ or insinuatins; that Thomas Marshall was a 
conspirator in his conference with Connolly or a traitor in 
thought or in act. 

Thomas Marshall did hint suspicions of Brown which he 
never directly charged; perhaps never fully formulated. But 
strangely enough, upon the identical letter which establishes 
the secret conferences of Marshall and Muter with Connoll}^, 
the nephew and son-in-law of Marshall, twenty-three years 
later, based the charge against Brown of conspiracy against 
his country. 

The calm mind of Washino;ton discerned the irritation 
that caused Marshall to write on the 12th February, 1789, in 
a mood suspicious of Spanish conspiracies, and Innes to 
write in December, 1788, his fears that intrigues with Great 
Britain were hatching in Kentucky. 



The Political Bcginnitigs of Kentucky. 2 1 1 

He clearly perceived that each in his zeal misjudged the 
other, and permitted personal enmity to disturb his estimate 
of the other's motive. 

To each he returned judicious reply, full of the confi- 
dence he really felt, and marked by the calm justice of his 
own grand composure.' 

It was but a short time before Thomas Marshall very 
clearly saw how unjust were his suspicions, and he very hon- 
orably repaired whatever injury his letter of i2th February 
might have done. 

He soon became convinced that he had wronged both 

O 

Brown and Innes, and on iith September, 1790, wrote to 
Washington assuring him of the entire absence of sedition 
or appearance of it, and of the "good disposition of the 
people of Kentucky toward the Government of the United 
States." 

The reply of Washington ' was characteristic : 

" I never doubted that the operations of this government, if not per- 
verted by prejudice or evil designs, would inspire the citizens of America 
with such confidence in it as effectually to do away with those apprehen- 

' The letter from Washington to Innes, of 2d March, 1789, is given in Sparks' Writ- 
ings of Washington, Vol. IX, p. 473, where also (in a note) may be found Innes' letter to 
Washington of date iSth December, 17S8. Washington's letter to Thomas Marshall, 
27th March, 17S9, is given in Sparks' Writini,s of IVashinglon, Vol. IX, p. 4S5. Butler 
prints the letter from Thomas Marshall to Washington, 12th February, 17S9. {Butler, 
History of Kentucky, Appendix, p. 520, edition of 1836.) 

''Washington to Thomas Marshall, 6th February, 1791; Sparks' Writings of Wash- 
ington, Vol. X, p. 137. 



2 1 2 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

sions which, under the former confederation, our best men entertained of 
divisions among themselves, or allurements from other nations. I am there- 
fore happy to find that such a disposition prevails in your part of the coun- 
try as to remove any idea of that evil which a few years ago you so much 
dreaded." 



The correspondence of Brown soon showed Innes that 
there was no dread of British alHance, nor reason to fear 
that the Federal Government would neglect the important 
interests of the West." 

Of those who were present at the convention of Novem- 
ber, 1788, as members or influential observers, it is to be 
noted that not one confirms the charge made in Marshall's 
History of a movement in the interest of a Spanish alliance 
or allegiance. Those who afterward testified repelled the 
charge. Those whose personal feeling was one of enmity 
had no charge to utter. 

Muter never said, wrote, or printed that Brown spoke 
at all in the convention, much less that he spoke treason- 
ably. No memoranda of his have ever been discovered or 
mentioned corroborative of any insinuation against Brown's 
acts or opinions in the convention. Garrard, who became 
Governor after Shelby, and survived till 1822, was a member 
of the convention of November, 1788, yet no word or 

'Bmvh tj rniiss. New York, zSth September, 1789, MS. ; Brown to fimes, Philadel- 
phia, 7tl] October, 1789, MS. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 2 1 3 

writing from him has ever been referred to as in the remotest 
degree sustaining such a supposition. He was not called to 
substantiate the charge. 

John Edwards became a Senator in Congress, and sur- 
vived until 1837, never having given in speech or writing 
intimation of such an occurrence, though he, too, sat in the 
convention and was an ultra Federalist. 

John Logan, a delegate in convention from Lincoln 
County, was Treasurer of the State during the period of 
most violent enmity between Marshall and Innes and Brown. 
He never countenanced the assertion. 

John Jouett lived longer than Innes (1816), and was 
never referred to in justification of the alleged quotation or 
any thing that resembled or could suggest it. It is quite 
beyond belief that a charge esteemed by Marshall so dam- 
aging to his long-time foe, should not have been, if true, 
verified by such of these men as were alive in 181 2, when 
Marshall wrote, and that a truth deemed so important should 
not have been established by their testimony. The fact 
remains that Marshall gave no authority for that which he 
put forth as an accurate quotation. 

As has been already mentioned, bitter litigation arose in 
1806 out of newspaper publications that charged upon Innes 
a corrupt intelligence with the Spanish authorities. Suit for 
libel was instituted against Street, the publisher, followed, 



2 14 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

after some time, by a similar action against Marshal], the 
anonymous author of the articles. The doors were thrown 
widely open to testimony. So eager were the parties to vent 
all their spleen, that agreements were entered in the record 
that all evidence that in strictness would be confined to the 
support of special pleas might be given under the general 
issue.' 

In these suits much proof was taken orally and by depo- 
sition. In the litigation between Innes and Marshall no 
less than twenty-eight depositions of men well known in the 
early times were taken and are yet extant.'' Not one of 
these depositions sustains the alleged quotation, or warrants 
any inference like it. Nor is the rumor, tradition, or hear- 
say of such mentioned in any part of them. 

Nor is any thing discoverable in the record of the suit 
between Innes and Street that skives color to the charsfe con- 

'The suit of Innes against Street was tried in Jess.imine County, where the writer 
of this discovered the record of the case a few years since. The cnse of Innes against 
Marshall was in the Mercer Circuit Court, where the papers were found in 1886. The 
records of tlie two suits contain many depositions. 

^The names of tliese witnesses are worth preserving, for the most of them filled 
posts of consequence. They were Isaac Shelby (twice Governor), Samuel .McDowell 
(Judge of the Supreme Court of the District), Caleb Wallace (Judge of the Court of 
Appeals), Christopher Greennp (Governor), Benjamin Sebastian (a Judge of the Court 
of Appeals), Robert Trimble (an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States), Buckner Thruston (a Senator in Congress from Kentucky, and a Federal Judge 
in the District of Columbia), John Bradford (the pioneer printer of the West), besides 
James Morrison, Joshua Barbee, Willis Morgan, Samuel Major. Henry Davidge, S. 
McKee. Jeptha Dudley, Thompson Mason, John Allen, Cuthbert Bullitt, John Mason, 
William Hunter, John T.Mason, John Twyman, William McMillan, George Walker, 
William Lillell, Samuel Brents, George M. Bibb, Joseph Street, James French, etc. A 
cloud of witnesses testified orally. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 2 1 5 

taincd in the alleged quotation. The papers of that case 
are yet to be seen at Nicholasville. A multitude of wit- 
nesses was there examined, among them Isaac Shelby, Sam- 
uel McDowell, Christopher Greenup, Robert Johnson, Joseph 
Crockett, Caleb Wallace, Thomas Todd (the clerk of all 
Kentucky conventions, afterward Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States), John Jouett and John Brad- 
ford of the earlier pioneers, with Robert Trimble, Charles 
Wilkins, William Blackburn, John Pope, and others, younger 
men. 

From no one of these came any testimony to support 
aught resembling the alleged quotation from Brown in con- 
vention. None of the older men testified to any thing of 
the kind, but emphatically denied that the imputations were 
warranted. None of the younger witnesses testified to any 
thing of the kind as coming down to them from any pro- 
fessing to have heard. 

Nor did the legislative investigation into the conduct of 
Sebastian, had in 1806, elicit any thing that can be tortured 
into an appearance of support of Marshall's pretended "quo- 
tation." Brown appeared in that proceeding and gave under 
oath his uncontradicted account of his political life, indig- 
nantly denying all charges and insinuations against the loy- 
alty of his conduct. 

The results of the three inquiries vindicated Innes, who 



2 1 6 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

was chiefly attacked. Street was mulcted by a jury in dam- 
ages that ruined him. Marshall agreed to refrain in future 
from assaults on Innes if the suit were dropped, and it was 
therefore discontinued.' 

From the records of these three bitter controversies, 
where nothing was omitted that could affix guilt or suspicion 
of guilt on the opposing party or his friends, it is distinctly 
ascertained that no man, of his contemporaries present and 
taking part in the conventions, knew or believed or sus- 
pected that Brown or Innes had ever entertained a thought 
other than that of entering the Union as a sovereign State, 
or a plan consistent with that thought. 

It is an incontrovertible fact, so far as contemporary doc- 
uments can be trusted, and the testimony of the men of the 
convention believed, and the evidence of younger men as to 
what were the rumors and traditions that they received from 
their elders credited, that Marshall had no warrant whatever 
for his deductions. 

To this subject Marshall devoted the greater part of the 
ninth chapter of the first volume of his History of Ken- 
tucky. (Vol. I, page 358 and following, edition of 18 12.) It 
is in truth the objective point of his work, and in the deduc- 
tions of treason and conspiracy his purpose was accom- 

'The negotiations were conducted by John Jouett in behalf of Innes. The cor- 
respondence is preserved by Harry I. Todd, Esq., of Frankfort. Kv. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 2 1 7 

plished. It will serve as a warning against rash historical 
assertion to note how the charge, utterly baseless as it was, 
has floated down the current of Kentucky history, carelessly 
accepted by every subsequent writer. 

When Butler published his history in 1834, he expended 
no search upon the accuracy of Marshall's statement. With- 
out reference even to Marshall he adopts the statement and 
perpetuates the quotation marks,' using the identical words 
and adopting the objectionable grammar found in Marshall's 
first volume. By strange misreading he attributes to Thomas 
Todd a seeming approval of ''notes made by Col. Thomas 
Marshall" of the convention proceedings.' The sm.allest 
investigation would have shown that Todd never spoke of 
"notes," nor said what could intimate the existence of any 
made by Col. Marshall or any other contemporary.^ 

So industrious an historian as Collins has given currency 
to the error, and later writers have taken the story without 
examination. 

' Bul/er's History of Kentucky, edition of 1836, p. 177. 

^ Butler's History of Kentucky, edition of 1836, p. 177. 

3 Thomas Todd was the clerk of all the earlier conventions in Kentucky. He 
became an Appellate Judge of the State, and died in office as an Associate Judge of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. What he really said (in 1806) as to the matter 
mentioned in the text was this: 

*' Qr-ESTION. Do you recollect the subject or object of the memorial read by Gen. Wilkinson ? 

"Answer. I do not ; but upon reading the letters published in the newspapers as having passed 
between Col. Marshall and Gen. Washington, it appears to me to be tolerably accurately stated in 
Col. Marshall's letter." 

The evidence of Judge Todd and others is given in the report of the legislative 
committee in Sebastian's case, already mentioned. 

28 



2 1 8 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky, 

The November Convention of 1788, having declined 
(though not by formal vote) to undertake the framing of a 
State Constitution, adjourned to meet in the coming August, 
for by the terms under which the delegates had been elected 
the duration of the body was to ist Januar)', 1790. 

The legislature of Virginia, however, took prompt action 
to remedy the difficulty suggested by Muter's alarm, that it 
was treason to Virginia for Kentucky to organize and get 
ready for admission to the Union. 

On the 29th December, 1788, an act was passed "con- 
cerning the erection of the District of Kentucky into an 
independent State."' Its effect was to give Virginia's formal 
assent to Kentucky's becoming an independent member of 
the Union. It ordered the election of a new convention, to 
assemble in the coming July, empowered to speak for the 
people of Kentucky their ratification or disapproval of the 
terms of separation which the act prescribed. Should the 
convention accept the terms, they, were to become a compact 
between the two political communities, provided Congress 
should, prior to ist September, 1790, recognize and receive 
the new State as a member of the Union. 

The work of so many weary years was thus begun anew. 
Fortunately, and strangely enough, the animosities of lead- 
ing men were for the time allayed. 

' Hening, Statutes at Large, Vol. XII, p. 788. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 2 1 9 

The Convention of duly, 1789. 

The convention which met on the 20th July, 1789, named 
Samuel McDowell for his accustomed place of president, 
and without delay addressed itself to a consideration of the 
terms of separation proposed by the last Virginia statute. 

A serious variation from the former act of separation was 
discovered in one of the provisions of the new statute which 
reserved to military claimants holding Virginia land warrants 
an unlimited time for location and survey, and exempted 
them in that regard from legislative control on the part of 
the new State. Another new feature was added in relation 
to the "domestic debt" of Virginia, imposing a share of it 
upon the new State. 

It was the opinion of the convention that these altera- 
tions of the original act of separation were inadmissible, and 
a memorial was at once prepared praying Virginia to recede 
from the new conditions. 

After providing for a census to be taken in October, the 
convention adjourned, subject to the call of its president, to 
await the response of the legislature of Virginia to the 
memorial.' 

There was still division of opinion as to the erection of a 
new State. Not a few persisted in their wish to remain part 

^ MS. Journal of Convenlion of Jul\\ 17S9. 



2 20 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

of the Old Dominion. The popular sentiment was other- 
wise. But men ceased for the time to charge treason upon 
those whose opinions on the question of statehood were not 
their own. A feeling of security had followed upon the 
election of Washington to the Presidency. 

Brown, as has been noticed already, wrote to Innes of the 
confidence inspired by Washington's administration, and 
the certainty of the West being cared for. Col. Marshall 
was satisfied, as he wrote Washington, that there was no 
purpose of disunion. There was a fortunate and most 
opportune lull of personal enmities and political bitternesses. 

The leaders in Virginia lost no time in considering the 
Kentucky memorial, and as soon as the forms of legislation 
could be gone through with the final Act of Separation was 
passed on the i8th December, 1789." 

By its terms yet another convention was called for the 
month of July, 1790, to finally accept the offered terms of 
separation, now definitely conformed to the suggestions of 
the last memorial. 

The Convention of July, 1790. 

A resolution declaring the sense of the good people of 
Kentucky to be that the District should be erected into an 
independent State upon the conditions embodied in the 

' Htning, Statutes at Large, Vol. XIII, p. 17. 



The Political Begiiuiings of Kentucky. 2 2 1 

Virginia Act of i8th December, 1789, passed by the narrow 
majority of twenty-four against eighteen votes." The voice 
of the minority was the last protest of unaUerable attach- 
ment to their native Virginia. 

A brief and dignified communication to the legislature 
of Virginia was framed, informing the mother State that her 
legislation for separation had been accepted, and expressing 
the thanks of the people of Kentucky for all the care and 
interest shown by Virginia. A communication " To the 
President and the Honorable the Congress of the United 
States of America" was also adopted, asking a sanction of 
the compact entered into between the peoples and an ad- 
mission of Kentucky into the Union on the ist June, 1792. 

After providing for the election of delegates to a conven- 
tion which they called to meet in April, 1792, and to whom 
should be committed the preparation of a Constitution, the 
eighth Kentucky Convention dissolved. 

The action of Congress was speedy and favorable. On 
the 4th of February, 1791, it was enacted: 

"That upon the aforesaid first day of June, One Thousand seven hun- 
dred and ninety-two, tlie said new State, by the name and style of the State 
of Kentucky, shall be received and admitted into this Union as a new and 
entire member of the United States of America."^ 

' MS. Journal of Convnttion, 28th July, 1790. 

'Laws First Congress, third session. Debates in Congress, Old Series, Vol. II, p. 
2372, Appendix. The act in full is to be found in Foore's Collection of "Charters and 
Constitutions" from the Government Press. 



2 2 2 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

The year of intervening time between the vote of admis- 
sion and the assembling of the Constitutional Convention 
presented the unusual feature of debates purely upon local 
affairs and interests. The folly and injustice of their crim- 
inations and recriminations seemed to be recognized, and 
men of all parties turned their thoughts to framing a funda- 
mental law for the new State. 

The absorbing political topics had heretofore been almost 
wholly of a national character. They concerned, as has 
been shown, the building up of the Commonwealth and its 
incorporation into the Union; and for their immediate prac- 
tical bearing looked toward the south for an establishment of 
trade down the uninterrupted current of the Mississippi, and 
to the northward for repression of Indian hostilities and the 
restoration to the American Union of posts still held along 
the Canadian frontier. 

With the assurance of admission into the Union, these 
questions were transferred to the Congress, to engage the 
collective wisdom of the country, and enter into the national 
diplomacy. 

Of domestic polity there were but few subjects to agitate 
the debates that marked the formation of the new State's 
Constitution. The irrepressible question of slavery, how- 
ever, presented the problem that for so many succeeding 
years demanded solution. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 2 2 



o 



So long as Kentucky remained an integral part of Vir- 
ginia, there arose no division on the subject of negro slavery. 
Legislation of the parent State alone could deal with it, and 
to that legislation the District must perforce submit. There 
was little division of public opinion, and no exhibition of 
angry differences. The religious sentiment of the entire pop- 
ulation was adverse to a perpetuation of the institution of 
slavery, and political inclinations were in the same direction. 

The debates and resolves of the Political Club were sig- 
nificant of the influential sentiment of the country. Its 
members (as has already been shown) unanimously disap- 
proved of that feature of the Federal Constitution which by 
implication and in fact continued the African slave trade 
until 1808. It is almost certainly true that only a minority 
of the talent, wealth, or influence withii} the bounds of the 
District desired or expected a long duration of slavery within 
its borders. All opinions concurred in the policy of restrict- 
ing, as far as possible, the importation of slaves from other 
States, and in the advisability of providing, as soon as pos- 
sible, a system of emancipation. 

As the progress of events made it plain that the state- 
hood of Kentucky was not long to be deferred, the question 
of slavery began to assume proportions of practical morality 
in the eyes of many of the most serious and resolute of the 
pioneers. 



2 24 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

It is to the honor of the Baptist preachers of the new 
country that they faced the problem with a courage that did 
honor to their intellect, their religious sincerity, and their 
sense of public duty. They were not then, as a rule, cultured 
or rich. Their horizon of speculation was narrow, but their 
mode of thought was the essence of honest logic applied to 
the rigid Calvinistic doctrines they so devoutly embraced. 

The Baptists of Virginia had not flinched from the ques- 
tion which presented itself with the launching of the new 
government. Their General Committee, convened at Rich- 
mond on the 8th August, 1789, took up the subject which 
had been adjourned from March of the preceding year. It 
was then 

" Resolved, That slavery is a violent deprivation of the rights of nature, 
and inconsistent with a Republican government, and we therefore recom- 
mend it to our brethren to make use of every legal measure to extirpate this 
horrid evil from the land, and pray Almighty God that our honorable legis- 
lature may have it in their power to proclaim the great jubilee, consistent 
with the principles of good policy." ' 

Their western brethren quickly responded to this declara- 
tion, and on 3d October, 1789, the Baptist Church at Roll- 
ing Fork, in Nelson County, propounded to the Salem 
Association, of which it was a member, the query: 

' Sample's History of Virginia Baptists, p. 79 ; Spencer's History of Kentucky Baptists, 
Vol. I, p. 183. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 225 

"Is it lawful in the sight of God for a member of Christ's Church to 
keep his fellow creature in perpetual slavery?" 



The response was not definite, and the dissatisfied ques- 
tioners withdrew almost unanimously fi-om their ecclesias- 
tical connection." 

The agitation that moved the Baptist fraternity was pro- 
found. Contemporary annals of their churches, pamphlets 
from the preachers of the day, and their familiar correspond- 
ence exhibit the alarmed sincerity with which they treated 
the problem of morals that confronted them. Carman and 
Dodge were soon joined in their anti-slavery preaching by 
the venerable William Hickman, along with Ambrose Dud- 
ley, Garrard (afterward Governor of the State), and others 
more or less influential. Debate grew warm. From a gen- 
eral acquiescence at first, in the proposition that slavery was 
morally indefensible and politically undesirable, the Baptists 
divided, in time, into parties, some advocating immediate 
abolition and non-fellowship with slaveholders; some insist- 
ing on a gradual system of emancipation of the negroes 
then in slavery and the immediate freedom of those born 
after a date in the near future; and some denouncing all dis- 
cussion in the churches as tending to confuse politics with 
religion. The history of the first party may be traced 

' spencer's History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. I, p. 184. 
29 



226 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

through Dodge and Carman, the Suttons,' Carter Tarrant, 
and others, and it cuhiiinated in that singularly-named organ- 
ization, " The Baptized Licking-Locust Association, Friends 
of Humanity," in 1S07." 

The ablest among the preachers who opposed the incor- 
poration of slavery into the polity ol Kentucky was David 
Rice, the father of Presbyterianism in the West. He had 
come from Virginia in 1783; had established in his house in 
Lincoln County in 1784 the first grammar school in the 
West, and the influence of his piety and talents was very 
great. In the political crisis of 1792, when the Constitution 
of the State was to be formed, he put in print the doctrine 
he had long preached and the sentiments of a life-time, 
issuing a pamphlet entitled, "Slavery inconsistent with Jus- 
tice and Good Policy." ^ A single extract will illustrate the 
deep feeling that generally prevailed: 

"The slavery of the Negroes began in iniquity; a curse has attended it, 
and a curse will follow it. National vices will be punished witli national 
calamities. Let us avoid these vices, that we may avoid the punishment 
which they deserve, and endeavor so to act as to secure the approbation and 
smiles of heaven. 

'John Sutton organized in Woodford County, in 1791, an avowedly abolition Bap- 
tist congregation: "New Hope Church, where Sutton and Tarrant setup the first 
emancipating church in this part of the world." (Taylor's History of Ten Churches, 79.) 

'Spencer, History 0/ Kentucky Baptists, Vol. I, p. 180; Tarrani's History of Iiman- 
cipationists in Kentucky. 

3 This very strong and temperate paper is printed in Bishop's Memoirs of Rev. David 
Rice, p. 385. 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 227 

"Holding men in Slavery is the National vice of Virginia, and while a 
part of that State we were partakers of the guih. As a separate State we 
are just now come to the birth, and it depends upon our free choice whether 
we shall be born in this sin or innocent of it. We now have it in our 
power to adopt it as our national crime, or to bear a national testimony 
against it. I hope the latter will be our choice; that we shall wash our 
hands of this guilt, and not leave it in the power of a future legislature 
ever more to stain our reputation or our conscience with it." ' 

Upon the assembling at Danville on 2d April, 1792, of 
that last convention in the long series of assemblies to which 
was intrusted the formation of a State Constitution, it was 
speedily ascertained that no serious differences existed 
among the delegates, except as regarded the recognition in 
the Constitution of the existence or perpetuity of negro 
slavery. 

It is not difficult now to discern the power that overcame 
the strong public feeling— especially among the religious 
denominations — adverse to a continuance of slavery. 

A new and strong and trained man made his first appear- 
ance in Kentucky politics as a member of that body. Georo-e 
Nicholas had but recently come from Virginia, but the fame 
of his abilities and the record of his public services had pre- 
ceded him. He had sustained debate against no less oppo- 
nents than Patrick Henry and George Mason, in the Vir- 
ginia Convention, and deservedly shared with Madison the 

' Bishop'' s Memoirs of Rice, pp. 417, 418. 



2 28 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

credit of carrying tlie vote tliat ratified the Federal Consti- 
tution. 

He took charge, as if by common consent, of the serious 
work of the convention. The State Constitution of 1792 
may be fairly regarded as his production. He was the prin- 
cipal debater on the floor, and the principal draftsman in 
committee. 

His ablest opponent was the Rev. David Rice, his col- 
league from Mercer County. Rice, however, resigned on 
the iith April, and his successor, Harry Innes, came into 
the convention too late to participate influentially in the 
debates. 

When the vote came to be taken on the perfected draft of 
the Constitution, the question of slavery or no slavery in the 
new State was put to the direct issue. 

The ninth Article of the Constitution, as prepared by 
Nicholas and passed through committee, read as follows: 

''Article IX, Section i. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws 
for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, or with- 
out paying their owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent 
in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to 
prevent emigrants to this State from bringing with them such persons as are 
deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States, so long as any 
person of tlie same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the 
laws of this State. That they shall pass laws to permit the owners of slaves 
to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors and preventing them from 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 229 

becoming a charge to the county in wliich tliey reside. They shall have 
full power to prevent any slaves being brought into this State as merchan- 
dize. They shall have full power to [)revent any slaves being brought into 
this State from a foreign country, and to prevent those from being brought 
into this State who have been, since the first day of January, One thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-nine, or may hereafter be imported into any of 
the United States from a foreign country. And they shall have full power 
to pass such laws as may be necessary to oblige the owners of slaves to treat 
them with humanity, to provide for them necessary cloathing and provision, 
to abstain from all personal injuries to them extending to life or limb, and 
in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of such 
laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for the benefit of their owner or 
owners." 

The system of slavery thus contemplated was designed 
to be as mild, as humane, and as much protected from traffic 
evils as possible, but it was to be emphatically perpetual, for 
no emancipation could be had without the assent of each 
particular owner of each individual slave. 

In opposition to this Article a vote by yeas and nays was 
taken — the only one noted on the journal. Under date of 
Wednesday, iSth April, 1792, it is recorded that 

"A motion was made by Mr. Taylor, of Mercer, and seconded by Mr. 
Smith, of Bourbon, to expunge the Ninth .Article of the Constitution, 
respecting slavery, which was negatived; and the yeas & nays on the ques- 
tion were ordered to be entered on the Journals. 

"The names of those who voted in the affirmative were: Mr. Andrew 
Hynes, Mr. Smiuel Taylor, Mr. Jacob Froman, The Honorable Harry 
Innes, The Reverend John Bailey, the Reverend Benedict Swope, the Rev- 
erend Charles Kavanaugh, the Reverend George Smith, Mr. Robert Frier, 



2 30 The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

the Reverend James Crawford, the Reverend James Garrard, Mr. James 
Smith, Mr. John McKinney, Mr. George Lewis, Mr. Miles W. Conway, and 
Mr. John Wilson. 

" The names of those who voted in the negative were : Mr. President 
(Samuel McDowell), Mr. Benjamin Sebastian, Mr. John Campbell, Mr. Will- 
iam King, Mr. Matthew Walton, Mr. Joseph Hobbs, Mr. Cuthbert Harrison, 
Mr. George Nicholas, Mr. Benjamin Logan, Mr. Isaac Shelby, Mr. William 
Montgomery, Mr. Thomas Kennedy, Mr. Joseph Kennedy, Mr. Thomas 
Clay, Mr. Higgason Grubbs, Mr. Hubbard Taylor, Mr. Thomas Lewis, Mr. 
John Watkins, Mr. Richard Young, Mr. William Steele, the Honble Caleb 
Wallace, Mr. Robert Johnson, Mr. John Edwards, Mr. Benjamin Harrison, 
Mr. Robert Rankin, & Mr. Thomas Waring. Yeas i6 ; Nays 26."' 

' The six ministers who voted to expunge the article recognizing slavery wei'e three 
Baptists (Bailey, Smith, and Garrard), i^ne Presbyterian (Crawford), one " Dutch Presby- 
terian," as the phrase was (Swope), and one Methodist (Kavan.iugh, an uncle of the late 
Methodist Bishop, H. H. Kavanaugh). The place of Rice (Presbyterian) had been filled, 
after his resignation, by Judge Innes. It is thus readily seen that the religious opinion 
was unanimous for abolition. The predominating ability, wealth, and political experi- 
ence of the convention was with their opponents, and its leadership by George Nicholas 
far surpassed any possible tactics of the minority. It seems strange that Wallace, Wal- 
ton, and Sebastian, who are known to have been emancipationists, should have voted 
to retain the ninth article with the feature of perpetuity so woven into it. It is to be 
explained by the dominating ability of Nicholas. The exclusion of slavery, so desira- 
ble and easy, and resting on so solid a foundation of popular opinion in 1792, was made 
practically impossible at the time of the revision of the Constitution in 1799, by rea- 
son of the rapid increase in the number of slaves and in the wealth represented by 
them. When the present Constitution was framed, in 1849, the burning issue was what 
was termed the "open clause," that is to say, a constitutional power to take meas- 
ures for ascertaining the sense of the people as to the extinction of slavery. This was 
rejected, and the perpetuity of the institution of slavery was considered secured. The 
further fastening of the system of African slavery upon the State was attempted by 
interpolating in the Bill of Rights a new declaration, that " the right of property is 
before and higher than any constitutional sanction, and the right of the owner of a 
slave to such slave and its increase is the same and as inviolable as the right of the 
owner of any property whatever." It required a civil war to correct the error made in 
1792. The humble preacher delegates were wiser than their able opponents. It is to 
be noticed, as an evidence of their disinterestedness, that the preacher-members of the 
convention voted, without exception, for a constitutional provision disqualifying all 
ministers of religious societies from service in the legislature. (MS. Journal Convention 
of April, 1792.) 



The Political Beginnijigs of Kentucky. 231 

The political unwisdom of this vote has always been 
apparent to calm observers. Its effects yet linger, though 
the cause has disappeared. And the unfortunate step was 
taken under the guidance of a man whose ability and 
uprightness can not be questioned, whose experience in 
affairs was large, and whose performances justified confi- 
dence. But Nicholas was not yet a Kentuckian. He had 
not yet learned the ways of the West, nor comprehended 
where the interests of the new Commonwealth were different 
from what suited or seemed to suit Virginia and her people. 

Had George Nicholas been already ten years in Kentucky 
he would have voted with Garrard and Innes and the Bap- 
tist preachers to exclude slavery from Kentucky. Had he 
not been a member of the convention a Constitution omitting: 
the ninth article relative to slavery would have been promul- 
gated. His argument was elaborately prepared and carefully 
reasoned, from premises that he stated with strength and 
terseness. The MS. statement of his points of argument still 
exists, a singular example to those who read it in the light of 
what a century has brought forth of a fabric of false conclu- 
sions reared by accurate logic upon a foundation of unsound 
premises. And it had weight chiefly with the more intellect- 
ual element of the convention. The flaw of the argument was 
more apparent to the conscience of the preachers than to the 
intellectual apprehension of their fellow delegates, the lawyers 



-y^ 



232 The Political Begiimings of Ketitucky. 

The adoption of the Constitution of 1792 launched Ken- 
tucky fairly upon her career as an independent and sover- 
eign State, indissolubly united by the very terms of her 
creation with all the sister States in Federal Union. 

And at this point of her history the story of Kentucky's 
Political Beginnings may properly pause. It marks the first 
period of the life of the State; the time when the hardships 
of men were great; when the life of the frontier was full of 
danger; when there was only the shadow of nationality in 
the feeble confederation ; when distance and isolation made 
the pioneer of the West a stranger to his people; when 
every temptation was to wrest with a strong hand from 
Indian and from Spaniard the security which seemed beyond 
the power of diplomacy to acquire. 

Amid all their discouragements hope and reverence for 
law never failed those men. Through the tedious series of 
eight disheartening conventions, called with all formality 
and prolonged through weary years, they sought, in patience 
and without resentment at repeated failure, the right of 
statehood. As they carried the arms of their country west- 
ward to conquer a wilderness, so they carried with them that 
spirit which magnifies the law and teaches men to value the 
self-imposed restraints that freemen alone can devise. 

The men who lived amid the dangers of that perilous 
time, who founded the empire of the West, who builded the 



The Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 233 

first Commonwealth beyond the Alleghanies, were of strong 
motives and hardy ways. They merit a judgment as robust 
as was their own nature. They dealt with great problems 
and great dangers. They were terribly in earnest, and they 
became, if they were not at first such, strong in opinion as 
they were in action. 

Those who in these quieter times explore the history of 
those earlier years will find much that no calm judgment 
can approve. Suspicion and detraction were rife. Denun- 
ciation of motive was frequent. Unjust judgments were 
common among them. But " if ever there was a time when 
men might have differed, not only honestly but hotly, when 
every allowance ought to be made for misconceptions of each 
other's motives and misunderstandings of each other's char- 
acters, it was during the earlier years of our national life. A 
new government, a vast country, unsettled interests, wide- 
spread privation and unreasonable hopes, ambition in high 
places, restlessness everywhere, and great political difficulties 
both at home and abroad, surely all these elements must 
have combined in a public life which requires for its proper 
appreciation not only wise and stern judgment, but that 
gentler and better teacher, the charity which believeth no 
evil and hopeth all things. That the men of the day mis- 
judged themselves and their contemporaries, and that they 
spoke bitterly one of another is natural enough, for they 

30 



2 34 ^-^^ Political Beginnings of Kentucky. 

were mortal. . . . What they did they did all together; the 
humblest of them doing much that we should imitate, the 
highest of them much that we should avoid."' 

The sober judgment of their posterity will not tolerate 
the thought that the men who did so well their part in times 
of peril and responsibility were false to any duty of patri- 
otism. 

They will refuse to question the integrity of Isaac Shelby 
or Samuel McDowell, or John Brown or Harry Innes, or 
Christopher Greenup or Caleb Wallace; for all their acts 
rebut suspicion ; and for the same reason they will absolve 
John Edwards and George Muter and Thomas Marshall 
from suspicion of disloyal purpose. 

When the element of personal enmity that embittered its 
political contests is eliminated from Kentucky's early story, 
there remains for the veneration of a later age the story of a 
band of brave, patient, sagacious, and patriotic men, devoted 
to their country, deserving well of it — each a laborer in the 
common cause — each laboring with honest purpose and 
efficient zeal to secure the establishment and the perpetuity 
of a great, a powerful, and a happy Commonwealth/ 

' Trescot, Diplomatic History of the Administratiom of Washington and Adams, p. 67, 
note. 



APPENDIX. 



Ho. I. 

[See Text, Pace 67.] 



EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF A CONVENTION, BEGUN AND HELD 

AT DANVILLE, IN LINCOLN COUNTY, THE 23D DAY OF MAY, 

17S5: WHICH DAY, BEING THE DAY APPOINTED BY 

THE CONVENTION HELD AT DANVILLE, 

DECEMBER 27TH, 17S4: 

Resolved unanimously, as the opinion of this committee. That a petition be pre- 
sented to the Assembly, praying that the said district may be established into a state 
separate from Virginia. 

Resolved unanimously, as the opinion of this committee. That this district, when 
established into a stale, ought to be taken into union with the United States of 
America, and enjoy equal privileges in common with the said states. 

Resolved, That thi.s Convention recommend it to their constituents, to elect 
deputies in their respective counties, to meet at Danville on the second Monday of 
August next, to serve in convention, and to continue by adjournment till the first day 
of April next, to take further under their consideration the state of the district. 

Resolved unanimously, That the election of deputies for the proposed convention 
ought to be on the principles of equal representation. 

Resolved, That the petition to the assembly for establishing this district into a 
state, and the several resolves of the former and present convention, upon which the 
petition is founded, together with all other matters relative to the interest of the dis- 
trict that have been under their consideration, be referred to the future convention, 
that such further measures may be taken thereon as they shall judge proper. 

To the Honourable the General Assembly of Virginia : 

The petition of a convention of the inhabitants of the District of Kentucky, begun 
and held at Danville, in Lincoln county, on Monday the twenty-third day of May, 
1785: 

Humbly Sheweth : That your petitioners, having been deputed by the people, 
pursuant to the recommendation of a late convenlion, to take into consideration the 
propriety and expediency of making application to the legislature for having this dis- 
trict established into a separate state, to be taken into union with the United Slates 
(as also the several grievances stated by that convention ; and to adopt such measures 
thereon, and whatever else might come before them, as should appear most conducive 



236 Appendix. 

to its interest), are unanimously of opinion — that the remote situation of the district 
from the seat of government, together with sundry other inconveniences, subjects the 
good people tliereof to a number of grievances too pressing to be longer borne, and 
which can not be remedied whilst the district continues a part of the state of Virginia; 
conceiving it to be not only the privilege, but the duty of all men to seek happiness by 
enteiing into any form of civil society, not injurious to others, that they may judge 
most conducive to this great end ; at the same time being anxiously desirous to culti- 
vate the most perfect harmony with our brethren in the other parts of the state, and 
when we are under the necessity of being separated from the parent whose fostering 
hand, we gratefully acknowledge, has formerly been extended to our infant settlements ; 
wishing nothing more devoutly, than that her blessing may ever attend us; therefore, 
we are induced to pray that, agreeable to the provisional clause in the constitution, 
the district of Kentucky may be established into a separate and independent state, to 
be known by the name of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; which we wish to take 
place under the following regulations, to wit: 

That as soon as may be, after the said state is established, a convention be authorized 
to assemble and adopt a constitution and form of government ; that the several acts of 
assembly which may be in force at the time of separation, together with the common law 
of England, all statutes or acts of Parliament made in aid of the common law prior to 
the fourth year of the reign of James the first, which are of a general nature, not local 
to that kingdom nor repealed or altered by the legislature of Virginia, continue to be 
the rule of decision, and be considered as in full force, so far as they are applicable to 
the district, until the same shall be altered by the legislative power of the common- 
wealth of Kentucky; and that as soon as conveniently may be, after the district is 
established into a state, an equal number of commissioners from Virginia and the said 
state be appointed and authorized to settle and adjust the proportion of the state debt 
to be paid by each; and, if the commissioners can not agree, that the difference be 
referred to and settled by Congress, as provided by the articles of confederation and 
perpetual union. 

Finally, we hope and expect that our representatives will cheerfully grant a request 
justified by the principles of our government as well as by the necessities of our con- 
dition, and that by an act of separation we shall be placed in the situation best 
adapted for attaining the advantages of a free and well regulated government; and 
that we shall likewise be recommended to Congress to be taken into union with the 
United States of America, to enjoy equal privileges in common with them. 

And your petitioners shall ever pray, &c. 

To the inhabitants of the District of Kentucky : 

Friends and Fellow-Citizens: We, your representatives, met in convention, in 
consequence of our appointment beg leave to address you on a subject which we con- 
sider of the last importance to you, to ourselves, and to unborn posterity. In every 
case where it becomes necessary for one part of the community to separate from the 
other, duty to Almighty God and a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require 
that the causes which impel them thereto should be clearly and impartially set forth. 

We hold it as a self-evident truth, that government is ordered for the ease and pro- 



Appendix. 237 

tection of the governed, and whenever these ends are not attained by one form of 
government, it is the right, it is the duty of the people to seek such other mode as will 
be most likely to ensure to themselves and their posterity those blessings to which by 
nature they are entitled. 

In the course of our enquiries, we find that several laws have passed the legislature 
of Virginia, which, although of a general nature, yet in their operation are particularly 
oppressive to the people of this district; and we also find, that from our local situation 
we are deprived of many benefits of government which every citizen therein has a 
right to expect, as a few facts will sufficiently demonstrate. 

We have no power to call out the militia, our sure and only defence, to oppose the 
wicked machinations of the savages, unless in cases of actual invasion. 

We can have no executive power in the district, either to enforce the execution of 
laws or to grant pardons to objects of mercy ; because such a power would be incon- 
sistent witli the policy of government and contrary to the present constitution. 

We are ignorant of the laws that are passed until a long time after they arc enacted, 
and in many instances not until they have expired ; by means whereof penalties may 
be inflicted for offences never designed, and delinquents escape the punishinent due to 
their crimes. 

We are subjected to prosecute suits in the High Court of Appeals at Richmond under 
every disadvantage, for the want of evidence, want of friends, and want of money. 

Our money must neces-sarily be drawn from us, not only for the support of civil 
government, but by individuals who are frequently under the necessity of attending 
on the same. 

Nor is it possible for the inhabitants of this district, at so remote a distance from 
the seat of government, ever to derive equal benefits with the citizens in the eastern 
parts of the state; and this inconvenience must increase as our country becomes more 
populous. 

Our commercial interests can never correspond with or be regulated by theirs, and 
in case of any invasion the state of Virginia can afford us no adequate protection in 
comparison with the advantages we might (if a separate state) derive from the Federal 
union. 

On maturely considering truths of such great importance to every inhabitant of the 
district, with a firm persuasion that we were consulting the general good of our infant 
country, we have unanimously resolved, ' that it is expedient and necessary for this dis- 
trict to be separated from Virginia and established into a sovereign independent state, 
to be known by the name of the "commonwealth of Kentucky," and taken into union 
with the United States of America.' In order to effect this purpose, we have agreed on 
a petition, to be presented to the legislature of Virginia at their next session, praying 
that a separation may take place, in which petition are fully set forth such terms as we 
thought beneficial to our infant country, and not inconsistent for Virginia to grant. 

It is generally admitted that this district ought, at some period not far distant, to be 
separated from the government of Virginia. 

The only question then is, whether we are now of sufficient ability either to fill the 
different offices of government or to provide for its support? In answer to the first 
part of this objection, examples have taught us that sound principles and plain sense 



238 Appendix. 

suffice for every laudable purpose of government; and we generally find that the lib- 
erty of the subject and the laws of the land are in the highest reverence at the founda- 
tion and rise of states, before the morals of the people have been vitiated by wealth 
and licentiousness, and their understanding entangled in visionary refinements and 
chimerical distinctions; and as to the latter part, we have now in our power several 
valuable funds, which, if by procrastinnlion we suffer to be exhausted, we shall be 
stripped of every resource but internal taxation, and that under every disadvantage; 
and therefore we do not hesitate to pronounce it as our opinion that the present is 
preferable to any future period. 

" By an act of the last session of assembly we find that the revenue law is now fully 
and immediately to be in force within the district, so that we shall not only pay a very 
considerable part of the tax for supporting the civil government of Virginia, but also 
be obliged to support our supreme court and every other office we need in the district 
at our own charge ; and we are of opinion that the additional expence of the salaries 
to a governor, council, treasurer, and delegates to congress will, for a number of years, 
be more than saved out of the funds before alluded to without any additional tax on 
the people. 

"To impress you still more with a sense of our regard to your interests as a free 
people, we have determined not to proceed in a matter of such magnitude without a 
repeated appeal to your opinions. We have, therefore, recommended the election of 
another convention, to meet at Danville on the second .Monday in August next, to take 
further into consideration the state of the district and the resolves of this and the pre- 
ceding convention. In this election we hope you will be actuated by a serious sense 
of the important objects which the proposed election is designed to promote." 

Ordered, That the clerk of the convention transmit one copy of the petition and 
one copy of the address now agreed on to the clerks of the several courts in the district, 
with a request that they be set up at their respective court-house doors. 

Ordered, That the resolve of this convention fixing the time of holding the .several 
elections in the district be annexed at the foot of the copies of the two addresses which 
are to be transmitted to the clerks of the several courts. 

Resolved, That the number of members for each county be as follows: For the 
county of Jefferson six, for the county of Nelson six, for the county of Lincoln ten, 
for the county of Fayette eight, and that the elections be held on the July court day 
of each county, at the court-house. 



rio. II. 

[See Text, Page 72.] 

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE CONVENTION, HELD ON 
MONDAY, THE 8th DAY OF AUGUST, 1785. 

The convention, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into a committee 
of the whole on the state of the district, and after some time spent therein Mr. Presi- 
dent resumed the chair, and Mr. Muter reported that the committee had bad under 



Appendix. 239 



consideration the matters to them recommitted, and had made several amendments, 
which having read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's taljle, where 
the same weie again read and agreed to, as follows, viz: 

Your committee, having maturely considered the important subject to them referred, 
are of opinion that the situation of this district, upwards of five hundred miles from 
the seat of the present government, with the intervention of a mountainous desart of 
two hundred miles, passable only at particular seasons, and never without danger from 
hostile nations of savages, precludes every idea of a connection on republican piinci- 
ples, and originates many grievances, among which we reckon the following : 

1st. It destroys every possibility of application to the supreme executive power for 
support or protection in cases of emergency, and thereby subjects the district to continued 
hostilities and depredations of the savages ; relaxes the execution of the laws, delays jus- 
tice, and tends to loosen and dissever tlie bonds of government. 

2d. It suspends the operation of the benign influence of mercy, by subjecting 
condemned persons, who may be deemed worthy of pardon, to tedious, languishing, 
and destructive imprisonment. 

3d. It renders difficult and precarious the exercise of the first and dearest right of 
freemen — adequate representation — as no person properly qualified can be expected, 
at the hazard of his life, to undergo the fatigue of long journies and to incur burthen- 
some expenses by devoting himself to the public service. 

4th. It .■■.ubjects us to penalties and inflictions which arise from ignorance of the 
laws, many of which have their operation and expire before they reach the district. 

5th. It renders a compliance with many of the duties required of sheriffs and clerks 
impracticable, and exposes those officers, under the present revenue law, to inevitable 
destruction. 

6th. It subjects the inhabitants to expensive and ruinous suits in the High Court of 
Appeals, and places the unfortunate poor and men of mediocrity compleatly in the 
power of the opulent. 

Other grievances result from partial and retrospective laws, which are contrary 
to the fundamental principles of free government, and subversive of the inherent 
rights of freemen ; such are, 

1st. The laws for the establishment and support of the district court, which, at the 
same time that we are subject to a general tax for the support of the civil list and the 
erection of public buildings, oblige us to build our own court-house, jail, and other 
buildings, by a special poll-tax imposed upon the inhabitants of the district, and 
leaves several officers of the court without any certain provision. 

2d. The law imposing a tax of five shillings per hundred acres on lands previously 
sold, and directing the payment thereof into the register's office at Richmond before 
the patent shall issue, the same principles which sanctify this law, would authorize the 
legislature to impose five pounds per acre on lands previovisly sold by government on 
stipulated conditions, and for which an equivalent hath been paid, and is equally sub- 
ver>ive of justice as any of the statutes of the British parliament that impelled the 
good people of America to arms. 

3d. General laws, partial and injurious in their operation ; such are the laws, (i) 
Concerning entries and surveys on the western waters. (2) Concerning the appoint- 



240 Appendix. 

ment of sheriffs. (3) For punishing certain offences injurious to the tranquility of 
this commonwealth, which last law prohibits, while we experience all the calamities 
which flow from the predatory incursions of hostile savages, from attempting any offen- 
sive operation ; a savage, unrestrained by any law, human or divine, despoils our 
property, murders our fellow-citizens, then makes his escape to the northwest side of 
the Ohio, is protected by this law. 

Whereas all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, 
inherent, and unalienable rights; among which are the enjoying and defending life 
and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining 
happiness and safety. 

Resolved therefore. That it is the indispensible duty of this convention, as they 
regard the prosperity and happiness of their constituents, themselves, and posterity, to 
make application to the general assembly, at the ensuing session, for an act to separate 
this district I'rom the present government forever, on terms honourable to both and 
injurious to neither; in order that it may enjoy all the advantages, privileges, and 
immunities of a free, sovereign, and independent republic. 

Unanimously agreed to by all the members present, whose names are hereto an- 
nexed: Mr. Saml M'Dowell, President; Mr. George Muter, Mr. Christopher Irvin, 
Mr. William Kennedy, Mr. Benjamin Logan, Mr. Caleb Wallace, Mr. Harry Innes, 
Mr. John Edwards, Mr. James Speed, Mr. James Wiikenson, Mr. James Garrard, Mr. 
Levi Todd, Mr. John Coburn, Mr. James Trotter, Mr. John Craig, Mr. Robert Patter- 
son, Mr. Richard Terrell, Mr. George Wilson, Mr. Benjamin Sebastian, Mr. Philip Bar- 
bour, Mr. Isaac Cox, Mr. Isaac Morrison, Mr. Andrew Hynes, Mr. Mathew Walton, 
Mr. James Morrison, and Mr. James Rogers. 

To the Hotwrabli General Assembly of Virginia : 

Gentlemen: The subscribers, resident in the county of Jefferson, Fayette, Lincoln, 
and Nelson, composing the district of Kentucky, being chosen at free elections held in 
these counties respectively by the free men of the same, for the purpose of constituting 
a convention, to take into consideration the general slate of the district, and expressly 
to decide on the expediency of making application to your honorable body for an act 
of separation — deeply impressed with the importance of the measure, and breathing 
the purest filial affection, beg leave to address you on the momentous occasion. 

The settlers of this distant region, taught by the arrangements of Providence, and 
encouraged by the conditions of that solemn compact for which they paid the price of 
blood, to look forward to a separation from the eastern parts of the commonwealth, 
have viewed the subject leisurely at a distance, and examined it with caution on its 
near approach — irreconcileable as has been their situation to a connexion with any 
community beyond the Appalachian mountains other than the federal union ; manifold 
as have been the grievances flowing therefrom, which have grown with their growth 
and increased with their population; they have patiently waited the hour of redress, 
nor even ventured to raise their voices in their own cause until youth quickening into 
manhood hath given them vigour and stability. 

To recite minutely the causes and reasoning which have directed, and will justify 
this address, would, we conceive, be a matter of impropriety at this juncture. .It would 



Appendix. 241 

be preposterous for us to enter upon the support of facts and consequences, which we 
presume are incontestible ; our sequestered situation from the seat of government, 
with the intervention of a mountainous desert of two hundred miles, always dangerous, 
and passable only at particular seasons, precludes every idea of a connexion on repub- 
lican principles. The | alriots who formed our constitution, sensible of the impractica- 
bility of connecting permanently in a free government the extensive limits of the 
commonwealth, most wisely made provision for the act which we now solicit. 

To that sacred record we appeal. 'Tis not the ill-directed or inconsiderate zeal of 
a few ; 'tis not that impatience of power to which ambitious minds are prone ; nor 
yet the baser considerations of personal interest, which influence the people of Ken- 
tucky ; directed by superior motives, they are incapable of cherishing a wish un- 
founded in justice ; and are now impelled by expanding evils and irremediable griev- 
ances, universally seen, felt, and acknowledged, to obey the irresistible dictates of self- 
preservation, and seek for happiness by means honorable to themselves, honorable to 
you, and injurious to neither. We therefore, with the consent and by the authority of 
our constituents, after the most solemn deliberation, being warned of every conse- 
quence which can ensue, for them, for ourselves, and for posterity unborn — do pray 
that an act may pass at the ensuing session of assembly, declaring and acknowledging 
the sovereignly and independence of this district. 

Having no object in view but the acquisition of that security and happiness which 
may be attained by scrupulous adherance to principles of private justice and public 
honor, we should most willingly at this time enter into the adjustment of the conces- 
sions which are to be the condition of our separation, did not our relative situation 
forbid such negociation, the separation we request being suggested by necessity and 
being consonant to every principle of reason and justice, we are persuaded will be 
cheerfully granted, and that we will be as cheerfully received into the continental 
union on the recommendation of our parent state. 

Our application may excite a new spectacle in the history and politics of mankind. 
A sovereign power solely intent to bless its people, agreeing to a dismemberment of its 
parts, in order to secure the happiness of the whole ; and we fondly flatter ourselves, 
from motives not purely local, it is to give birth to that catalogue of great events 
which we persuade ourselves are to diffuse throughout the world the inestimable bless- 
ings which mankind may derive from the American revolution. 

We firmly rely that the undiminished lustre of that spark which kindled the flame 
of liberty and guided the United States of America to peace and independence, will 
direct the honorable body to whom we appeal for redress from manifest grievances to 
embrace the singular occasion reserved for them by divine providence, to originate a 
precedent which may liberalize the policy of nations and lead to the emancipation of 
enslaved millions. In this address we have discarded the complimentary style of adu- 
laiion and insincerity. It becomes freemen, when speaking to freemen, to employ the 
plain, manly, unadorned language of independence, supported by conscious rectitude. 

Resolved, That two commissioners be appointed to have the address now agreed on 
preferred to the next general assembly, and to use their endeavors to give it success. 

George Muter and Harry Innes, esquires, were unanimously appointed commission- 
ers to have the address now agreed on preferred to the next general assembly. 

31 



242 Appendix. 



To the inhabitants of the District of Kentucky : 

Friends and Countrymen: Your representatives in convention, having completed 
the important business for wliich they were specially elected, feel it their duty before 
they rise to call your attention to the calamities with which our country appears to be 
threatened. Blood has been spilt front tlie eastern to the tuestern extremity of the district. 
Accounts have been given to the convention from Post St. Vincennes which indicate a 
disposition in the savayes for general war. In the mean time if we look nearer home 
we shall find our borders infested, and constant depredations committed on our prop- 
erty. Whatever may be the remote designs of the savages, these are causes sufficient 
to ro ise our attention, that we may he prepared not only to defend but punish those 
who unprovoked offend us. God and nature have given us the power, and we shall 
stand condemned in the eyes of Heaven and mankind if we do not employ it to rediess 
our wrongs and assert our rights. 

The Indians are now reconnoitering our settlements in order that they may here- 
after direct their attacks with more certain effect, and we seem patiently to await the 
stroke of the tomahawk. Strange indeed it is that, although we can hardly pass a spot 
which does not remind us of the murder of a father, a brother, or deceased friend, we 
should take no single step for our own preservation. Have we forgot the surprise of 
Bryan's or the shocking destruction of Kinchelo's station, let us ask you? Ask your- 
selves what there is to prevent a repetition of such barbarous scenes? Five hundred 
Indians might be conducted undiscovered to our very thresholds, and the knife may be 
put to the throats of our sleeping wives and children. For shame! Let us rouse from 
our lethargy ; let us arm, associate, and embody. Let us call upon our officers to do 
their duly, and determine to hold in detestation and abhorrence, and to treat as ene- 
mies to the community every person who shall withhold his countenance and support 
of such measures as may be recommended for our common defence. Let it be remem- 
bered that a stand mnst be made somewhere. Not to support our present frontier 
would be the height of cruelty as well as folly; for should it give way those who now 
hu'.i themselves in security will take the front of danger, and we shall in a short time 
be huddled together in stations, a situation in our present circumstances scarcely prefer- 
able to death. Let us remember that supineness and inaction may entice the enemy to 
general hostilities, whilst preparation and offensive movement will disconcert their 
plans, drive them from our borders, secure ourselves, ;ind protect our properly. 

Therefore resolved, That the convention, in the name & behalf of the people, do 
call on the lieutenants or commanding officers of the respective counties of this district 
forthwith to carry into execution the law for regulating and disciplining the militia. . 

Resolved, That it be recommended to the officers to assemble in their respective 
counties and concert such plans as they may deem expedient for the defence of our 
country, or for carrying expeditions against the hostile nations of Indians. 



Appendix. 243 



No. III. 

[See Text, Pace 78.] 

DEBATES IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION, JUNE, 1788, Page 128. 

(Extract from the Speech of Mr. Monroe.) 

Whilst the powers were in force a representative from Spain arrived authorized to 
treat with the United Slates on the interfering claims of the two nations respecting the 
Mississippi and the boundaries, and oilier concerns wherein they were respectively 
interested. A similar commission w.is given to the honourable the secretary of foreign 
affairs on the part of the United Slates, with these ulliuiata: '-That he enlei- into no 
treaty, compact, or convention whatever with the .said representative of Spain which 
did not stipulate our right to the navigation of the Mississippi and the bouTidaries as 
established by our treaty with Great Britain." Eight or ten months elap.sed without 
any communication of the progress of the treaty being made to Congress. At length 
a letter was received from the secretary stating that difficulties had arisen in his nego- 
cialion with the representative of Spain, which in his opinion should be so managed as 
that even their existence should remain a secret for the present, and proposing that a 
committee be appointed with full power to direct and instruct him in every case rela- 
tive to the proposed Ire.ity. The object of this proposition was to disengage him from 
the ultimata already mentioned in his existing instructions. The secretary, Mr. Jay, being 
at length called before congress to explain the difficulties mentioned in his letter, pre- 
sented to their view the project of a treaty of commerce, containing, as he supposed, 
advantageous stipulations in our favor in that line, in consideration for which we were 
to contract to I'orbear the use of the navigation of the river Mississippi for the term of 
twenty-five or thirty years, and earnestly advised our adopting it. He urged that the 
commercial project was a beneficial one, and should not be neglected; that a stipula- 
tion to forbear the use on her part contained an acknowledgement of the right in the 
United States; that we were in no condition to take the river, and therefore gave noth- 
ing for it. The delegates of the seven eastermost states voted that the ultimnla in the 
secretary's instructions be repealed, and it was entered on the journal by the secretary of 
Congress that the question wa.s carried, although nine slates were necessary, by He Fed- 
eral constitution, to give an instruction. The animated pursuit that was made of this ob- 
ject required, and I believe received, as firm an opposition. The southern slates wete on 
their guard, and warmly opposed it. 

No. IV. 

[See Text, Pace 79.] 

CIRCULAR LETTER DIRECTED TO THE DIFFERENT COURTS IN THE 

WESTERN COUNTRY. 

Kentucky, Danville, March jgih, 1787. 
Gentlemen: A respectable number of the inhabitants of this district having met 
at this place, being greatly alarmed at the late procedure of Congress in proposing to cede 



244 Appendix. 



tu llie Spanish court the navigation of the Mississippi river for twenty-five or thirty 
years, have directed us to address the inhabitants on the western waters, and inform 
tliem of the measures which it is proposed for this district to adopt. 

The inhabitants of the several counties in this district will be requested to elect five 
members in each county, to meet at Danville on the first Monday in May, to take up 
the consideration of this project of congress; to prepare a spirited but decent remon- 
strance against the cession ; to appoint a committee of correspondence and to commu- 
nicate with one already established on the Monongahalia, or any other that may be 
constituted ; to appoint delegates to meet representatives from the several districts on the 
western waters in convention, should a convention be deemed necessary, and to adopt 
such other measures as shall be most conducive to our happiness. As we conceive that ail 
the inhabitants residing on the western waters are equally affected by this partial con- 
duct of congress, we doubt not but they will readily approve of our conduct and cheer- 
fully adopt a similar system to prevent a measure which tends to almost a total 
destruction of the western country. This is a subject that requires no comment — the 
injustice of the measure is glaring— and as the inhabitants of this district wish to unite 
their efforts to oppose the cession of the navigation of the .Mississippi with those of 
their brethren resid ng on the western waters, we hope to see such an exertion made 
upon this important occasion as may convince Congress that the inhabitants of the west- 
ern country are united in the opposition, and consider themselves entitled to all the 
privileges of freemen and those blessings procured by the revolution, and will not tamely 
submit to an act of oppression which would tend to a deprivation of our just rights and 
privileges. We are. Gentlemen, with re.-.pect, your most obedient servants, 

GEORGE MUTER, 
HARRV INNES, 
JOHN BROWN, 
BENJAMIN SEBASTIAN. 
JSio. V. 

[See Text, Pace 156.] 
A CERTIFICATE. 

{From the Palladium oi August 7th, 1806.) 

Having observed in the Western World, a publication in which nir. John Brown is 
charged with having been engaged in a treasonaljle conspiracy to transfer and subject 
this country to the dominion of Spain; and having seen with surprise that a letter 
written to me in 1788 by Mr. Brown is referred to as containing the evidence of his 
guilt, I do in justice to Mr. Brown hereby declare that I never received from him any 
communication, either written or verbal, which could authorize or justify the statement 
contained in that publication. 

In the year 1788, when the application of the people of Kentucky to be admitted 
into the union as an independent state was depending before congress, Mr. Brown was 
a member of that body, and was, as I have reason to believe, very anxious that Ken- 
tucky should be received into the union as a state, and used his best exertions to effect 
that object. 



Appendix. 245 

After tliat application had been laid over for the consideration of the new govern- 
ment. Mr. Brown wrote nie a letter informing rpe of the fate of the application, and 
stating the reasons, in his opinion, of the failure. 

In that letter was enclosed a paper containing a statement in the hand writing of 
Mr. Brown, of which the following is the substance, and to the best of my recollection 
the very words made use of, viz: 

"In a conversation I had with Mr. Gardoque, the Spanish minister, relative to the 
navigation of the Mississippi, he stated that if the peojile of Kentucky would erect 
themselves into an independent stale, and appoint a proper person to negociate with 
him, he had authocity (or that purpose, and would enter into an arrangement with them 
for the exportation of their produce to New Orleans on terms of mutual advantage." 

The paper contained the above staten<enl of Gardoque's remarks only, fur Mr. 
Brown subjoined no observations expressive either of his approbation or disapproba- 
tion, which induced me to conclude that it had been forwarded merely for information. 
Mr. Brown never intimated to me, either al that time or any other, that Mr. Gardoque 
had ever on any pretence made him any propositions ten<ling to his personal aggran- 
dizement, as has been erroneously suggested in the Western World. And as to the 
alleged project of subjecting Kentucky to the government of Spain, and of raising an 
army to maintain a revolt against the United States, I do declare that nothing of the 
kind was ever suggested to me by Mr. Brown, nor to the best of my recollection did I 
ever liear that such ideas were at any time advanced or advocated by him or any other 
person in the western country until I saw the charges published in the Western World. 

I regret very much that it is not in my power at present to find the letter and paper 
above mentioned. I fear they are lost or destroyed. 

About ten years ago I removed to Jessamine from Mercer county, and left my son 
Joseph in possession of my house, in which I left a large bundle of old letters and 
papers. 

Three or four years after my removal, my son informed me that all the old letters 
and papers I had left behind were destroyed; and as I cannot find the letter and paper 
referred to anmng the papers now in my possession, I suspect they were among those 
left in .Mercer county. 

August 4, 1806. SAMUEL M'DOWELL. 

fJo. VI. 

[See Text, Page 187.) 
DORCHESTER TO SYDNEY, WITH ENCLOSURE. 

(From Canadian Archives, Colonial Office Records, Series Q, Vol. XLI, p. 283, No. 107.) 

Quebec, nth April, 1789. 

My Lord : I am informed the Spanish Government at New Orleans has for some 
time past observed a very friendly conduct towards the inhabitants of Kentucky. 

Special permits have been put into the hands of some of the leading characters of 
those settlements for sending down the Mississippi determinate quantities of Tobacco, 
which are purchased at New Orleans on account of the Government, and ten thousand 



246 Appendix. 



dollars have been issued from the public treasury f'ere for the purpose of purchasing 
merchandize in Kentucky, which sum has been consigned to gentlemen of that country, 
and is actually arrived at the Falls of the Ohio. 

The Spanish Teiritories upon the Mississippi, between the thirty-first and thirty- 
third degrees of North Latitude, are erected into a Lieutenancy dependent on New 
Orleans, a Governor has been appointed, and all Americans are invited to settle there 
under flattering offers. 

A Monsieur d'Arges, a Knight of the Order of St. Louis, who has been a resident 
of Kentucky for near a year, and in the employ of the Spanish Government, is said to 
have advised this measure at the Court of Madrid, where he has had several audiences 
since he left Kentucky. 

On the west side of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Ohio, another Span- 
ish settlement is intended with similar views, under the agency of a Mr. Morgan, for- 
merly a merchant at Philadelphia, who is now upon the Ohio. 

Notu ilhstanding tlie favorable answer given by Congress to the demand of Ken- 
tucky to be admitted a sovereign state in the union, the people of that country have 
lately discovered a strong inclination to an entire separation, and some of their leading 
men have entered into correspondence with the Spanish Government at New Orleans. 

Their apprehension that Congress will consent to give up the Navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi for twenty-five years is one of the reasons which induces them to listen to the 
overtures of Spain. 

In a late convention, held at Danville, it has been proposed by those who are gained 
over to the Spanish views to throw themselves under the protection of that ]>ower. 

But the general result of more private councils among them is said to be to declare 
Independence of the Federal Union, take possession of New Orleans, and look to Great 
Britain for such assistance as might enable them to accomplish these designs. 

A Committee of private correspondence has been appointed by them to influence all 
the inhabitants west of the mountains in the same measures. 

I inclose some of their political reflexions on the state of aflairs in the Western 
Country. 

A new .\merican Settlement is now forming at the mouth of the Great Miami, on 
the North side of the Ohio, conducted by a Mr. Symms, a late member of Congress, and 
covered by a garrison of one hundred and fifty Continental Troops. 
I am, with much respect and esteem, 

Your Lordship's most obedient and most humble servant. 
The Right Hon'ble Lord Sydney. DORCHESTER. 

DESULTORY REFLEXIONS BY A GENTLEMAN OF KENTUCKY. 

[copv.] 
[From Canadian Archives, Colonial Office Records, Scries Q, Vol. XLI, p. 286.) 

I. The River Mississippi being the Channel by which the Western settlements of 
America must export their products, we may form a just estimate of the importance of 
this channel by casting our eyes over a map comprehending that vast and luxuriant 
Country watered by its branches. 



Appeiidix. 247 



2. As the balance inclines the beam, the Atlantic States of America must sink as 
the Western settlements rise. Nature has interposed obstacles and established barriers 
between these regions which forbid their connexion on principles of reciprocal inter- 
est, and the flimsy texture of republican government is insufficient to hold in the same 
political bonds a people detached and scattered over such an expanse of territory, 
whose views and interests are discordant. 

3. Thus local causes, irresistible in their nature, must produce a secession of the 
Western settlements from the Atlantic States, and the period is not very distant. But 
these people must for ages continue agricultural; of consequence foreign protection 
will be expedient to their happiness, and this protection must necessarily comprehend 
the right of navigating the Mississippi, with a marine to protect its commerce. That 
power whicli commands the navigation of the Mississippi as completely commands the 
whole country traversed by its waters as the key does the lock, the citadel the outworks. 

4. The politics of the Western Country are verging fast to a crisis, and must speedily 
eventuate in an appeal to the patronage of Spain or Britain. No interruption can be 
apprehended from Congress; the seditious temper and jarring interests of the Atlantic 
States forbid general arrangements for the pulilic good, and must involve a degree of 
imbecility, distraction, and capricious policy which a high toned monarchy can alone 
remedy; but the revolutions and changes necessary to reconcile the people to such a 
government must involve much delay. Great Britain ouglit to prepare for the occasion, 
and she should employ the interval in forming confidential connexions with men of 
enterprize, capacity, and popular influence resident on the Western Waters. 

Indorsed: In Lord Dorchester's to Lord Sydney, No. 107, of the nth April, 1789. 



flo. VII. 

[See Text, Page 189.) 
DORCHESTER TO SYDNEY, WITH ENCLOSURE. 

[DUPLICATE— SECRET.] 

(From Canadian Archives, Colonial Office Records, Series Q, Vol. XLII, p. 13, No. 112.) 

Quebec, 7th June, 17S9. 

My Lord : The inclosed description and political observations on the affairs of the 
western country between the Allegany M untains and the river Mississippi, were pre- 
sented to the French Minister in America, by whom they were received with great 
eagerness and forwarded to his Court. I think them tolerably correct, and written by 
a man of judgment. Their object is to induce France to take possession of New 
Orleans, and thereby to secure to herself all the trade of that vast country, which of 
necessity must pass that way. 

This plan, and the occurrences in the western country of last year, mentioned in my 
letter No. 107, are not entirely unknown in the United States, and alarm the govern- 
ments and people of property on the Atlantic. Hence some discontented persons of 
consideration among them have cauglit the idea that Great Britain might be placed in 
the room of France, and have made me offers of their service to bring this about. 



248 Appendix. 

Wishing to understand the nature and extent of their plans and their expectations 
from me, I learned that some of them proposed going into the Western Country, and 
were convinced that by their influence they could effect a separation of it from the 
Atlantic States; that I should supply them only with arms and ammunition by way of 
the upper posts; that their intercourse with tlie lakes should be free and open, and 
that a peace with the Indians would facilitate the business. They required no more, 
and doubted not but they would be able to take New Orleans and deliver it over to 
Great Britain, desiring only freedom and protection of their trade down the Missi-sippi. 

To remove any objection, by reason of our being at peace with Spain, I was 
informed that Spain, when at peace with us, had furnished America with money for the 
revolt, as might be easily proved, and that they did not want Great Britain to appear 
concerned till they were in possession of New Orleans. No mention was made of 
money for private or public purposes, yet I take for granted this would be expected. 

After many thanks for their confidence and good will to Great Britain, and assur- 
ances that though I could not say these offers of service mijjilit prove of advantage to 
them, they might depend on their not being detrimental, I added that no Governor 
would venture to adopt a measure of this importance, and that it must proceed from 
the source of power. Being pushed to declare my opinion of the scheme, I replied, I 
must think of it as my master thinks. I understand this last question to have been put 
with a view of carrying the matter home, and to know hoiv far I would countenance 
the project. 

The inclosure is not entire, the introduction having been omitted in the copying, as 
I was informed, on account of its length, and containing nothing of any moment. 
I am, with much re-^pect and esteem, 

Your Lordship s most obedient and 

Most humble servant, 

DORCHESTER. 
The Right Hon'ble Lord Sydney. 
Endorsed: Quebec, 7th June, 1789. Lord Dorchester. Dup'l, No. 112. Secret. R. 
i6th July. {One inclosure.) 

ENCLOSURE WITH FOREGOING. 

[COPIE.] 

Avant de jetter nos regards sur I'avenir pour decouvrir le germe des evenemens, 
qu'nu petit nombre d' annees, peut-etre, est destinee a faire eclorre, examinous soum- 
mariement la situation actuelle des Republiques naissantes de ce cote des apalaches. 

Le pais compris entre ces Montagnes, I'Ohio, le Missisippi, et le Golfe de Mexico, 
renferme plus de tendue de terrin, que le re,te des treize Etats Unis. Que sera ceci, 
si nous y joignons les domaines qui leurs out ete cedes par I'Angleterre an Nord de 
I'Oliio? Ce pais, comme il a ete dit ci dessus, par la fertilite messuissable de sou sol, 
par la salubrite de sou climat, par nue situation heureuse, qui lui promet un jour 
nu grand commerce, est devenue aujourd'hui nu objet de prediliction, et attire si puis- 
samment les habitans de toutes les parties de I'Amerique, que I'ou craint deja que celle- 
ci ne manque bientot des cultivateurs. Entre les etatlissemens deja formes dans cette 



Appendix. 249 

plaine immense, la contree de Kentucky merite sans contredit le premier rang par sa 
population, par son site sur une belle rivieie navigable presqu'en tout temps, par le 
grand nombre d'autres rivieres qui la traverse partout, et assurant ses communica- 
tions par son voisinage du Missisippi et des grands lacs du Canada. Les autres peu- 
plades ont pour le present le desavantage d'etre trop centrales et bornees par des Apa- 
laches, les nations Indiennes des Creeks, Cherochees, Clioctows et Chickasaws, par la 
Floride de I'ouest, et par Kentucky; dans cette position leur progres doit etre plus lent. 
Elles arriveront plus tard a I'imporlance mais, neanmoins, elles ajoutent deja beaucoup 
a la notre, en nous servant de barriere contre un ennemi cruel et toujours en haleine. 
Kentucky n'a plus a lutter, que contre quelques faibles hordes de sauvages etablis sur 
le Wabache, et vers le lac Erie. Les courses frequentes que ces barbares font encore 
dans notre pais les allarment. Les meurtres, les depredations qui les suivent sur nos fron- 
tieres, peuvent bien arreter un petit nombre d'individus timides, qui se sont fait une 
idee terrible des Indiens, mais cela n'empeche point la colonic de s'augmenter touts les 
etes de dix a douze mille emigrants. Les sauvages, d'ailleurs, se sont beaucoup eloignes 
des Rives de I'Ohio, et leur nombre diminue tous les jour.s. Ce sont au reste de trop 
raeprisables guerriers, pour que leur resistance puisse etre regarde comme un obstacle 
capable de retarder I'agrandissement de ces peuplades. Leur genre de guerre peut etre 
funeste a un petit nombre de malheureux, qu' ils surprennent a I'ecart, mais 1' activite 
generale de I'expansion progressive n'en soufre pas la moindre alteration. 

Par un acte solemnel du corps legislatif de la Virginie, le pais de Kentucky doit 
etre reconnu au premier de Septembre, 1787, etat souverain et independent, et membre 
de la grande confederation. Le pais de Franklin sur les derriere de la Caroline du Nord 
jouissoit deja de cet honneur il ya deux ans, mais leur position desadvantageuse pour le 
commerce ne leur permettant pas d'y etablir un revenu public, ils se sont derechef unis 
a I'etat primitif, en attendant descirconstances plus favorables. La population du Cum- 
berland n'est pas encore assez nombreuse pour y former un gouvernement separe, mais 
il ne lui faut que deux ans pour etre tres respectable. Les emigiants sur les derrieres de 
la Georgie viennent de conclure avec les Creeks un traite tres advantageux, qui va leur 
permettre de s'etendre dans I'Ouest. II ne manque a touts ses peuplades, qu'un com- 
merce libre, et la seule voie par laquelle elle puissent le faire, est par le Missisippi. 
Leurs terres, convenables pour toutes sortes de cultures, sont surtout singulierement pro- 
pres a produire le chanvre, le lin et le tabac. Nos recoltes dans ce dernier article sont a 
present bornees a la consommation interieure eta des faibles exportations surle Wabashe 
et aux Illinois. Circonscrits comme nous le sommes, sans commerce exterieur, sans 
debouche pour nos denrees, notre prosperite presente, notre grandeur future, I'ac- 
croissement de notre population, I'extension de notre Industrie, I'appreciation de nos 
terres, notre importance comme cultivateurs, comme negociants, comme corps politique, 
tout depend de savoirsi nous jouirons d'un bienfait de la nature, ou si elle aura vaine- 
ment creuse aupres de nous un des plus beaux canaux de communication, avec tous les 
peuples de I'univers. Le Congre avoit charge ses agents a la Cour d'Espagne d'y sou- 
tenir sa dignite et maintenir nos droits. Quelques difficultes relatives aux demarcations 
du territoire, ou, peut etre, le plan de nons amuser, ont fait transferrer les negociations a 
New York. Quelques fussent a cet egard les intentions de la Cour de Madrid, un 
danger plus a craindre que ce refus, a ete sur le point d'aneantir nos esperances. La 

32 



250 Appendix. 

politique sourde et partiale de quelques etats politique dont 11 serait trop long de devel- 
oper ici les principes et les projets, se fortifiant de la terreur d'une desertion generale, a 
presque fait le Congre tomber dans le piege qu'ils lui avaient tendu. On a fait 
circuler un papier insidieux, contenant la proposition d'abandonner pour vingt-cinq ans 
nos pretensions sur la navigation du Missisippi, au moyen de quoi le pais de 1' est auroit 
un commerce libre avec I'Espagne. La Virginie et le Maryland viennent tout 
recemment de proscrire I'idee d'un pareil traite comme derogatoire a I'honneur des 
Etats Unis, et destructif des principes de la confederation, dont I'influence doit se 
repandre sur toutes les parties de I'Union sans exception, en preference d'aucune, et 
I'exemple respectable de ces deux Etats a etait suivi par la majorite des autres auxquelles 
ils donnent si belle lecon de desinteressement, car leur commerce de tabac doit etre vive- 
ment affecte si la mer est ouverte a des contrees qui produisent dans la meme etendue 
de terrain trois fois autant des plantes mieux nourries, et generalement reconnues comme 
superieures en qualite. Au reste, de quelque maniere que notre commerce rompe les 
entraves qui I'ar.servissent maintenant, la revolution qui la rendra libre ne peut plus 
etre fort eloignee. Quand une faible digue s'oppose au cours impetieux d'un torrent 
qui grossit toujours, il faut ouvrir I'ecluse ou que la digue soit emportee. On ne doit 
nous considerer comme des Colonies encore au berceau, nous acquerons tons les jours 
de nouvelles forces, et nous les connoissons. La nature a prodigne ici toutes les rich- 
esses de sa fecondite pour faire equilibre contre I'attrait qui auroit pu fixer les hommes 
aux bords de la mer, et la commodite de la navigation d'un grand fleuve a determine 
la balance en notre faveur. Nous ne sommes plus une petite societe d'aventuriers qui 
vont s'isoler dans un coin de I'univers; nous avons pris place parmi les nations. Nos 
voisins quittent par milliers leurs montagnes et leurs sables, pour venir se fixer dans nos 
plaines, le reste de I'Amerique se depeuple pour nous enrichir des ses pertes. Bientot 
nous allons attirer sur le Missisippi les regards de I'Europe, accoutumes a s'arretter 
aux rivages de I'Atlantique. En vain une politique jalouse voudroit y mettre obstacle 
autant vaudroit defendre a la flamme de monter, a la pierre de descendre. Tel est le 
langage universel que I'on tient, non seulement a I'Ouest des Apalaches, mais dans toute 
I'Amerique. Je ne fais que vous repeter ce que j'entends, et que vous avez pu entendre 
tous les jours. S'il y a en effet quelques principes clairs dans le calcul des probabili- 
tees, il ne fautqu'un coup d'ceuil les appercevoir, qu'une region ausi eminenment favor- 
isee de la nature, doit bientot, entre les mains du peuple le plus actif que Ton connoisse, 
le plus amateur de I'agriculture et qui I'entend le mieux, former une masse d'hommes 
et des productions capables de renverser toutes les barrieres. On peut presumer que ce 
n' est pas tant une vaine chicane pour vingt lieues de territoire, qui cause la jalousie de 
I'Espagne, que la crainte de voir des voisins dangereux passer le Missisippi et s' em- 
parer deses possessions de I'Ouest. Elle peut craindre qu' ils ne ce repandent dans les 
plaines superbes qui s' etendent jusqu'au Nouveau .VIexique, qu'ils ne lui enlevent la 
riche traite du Missouri, que peut etre leurs avidite et leurs besoins ne les poussent un 
jour jusqu' a ses mines. Mais le systeme de leur foucher le Missisippi est il bien propve 
a prevenir ces malheurs. Si un honime cherche a preserver ses champs situees sur les 
bords d' un ruisseau pret a se deborder, vondra-t'-il s'obstiner a son embouchure? N'en 
previendra-t'-il pas au contraire I'engorgement en lui facilitant un recours ? N'est-ce 
pas sur la rive, qui borde ses moissons qu'il elevera des digues ? J'oserai avancer que 



Appendix. 2 5 1 

I'Espagne devroit faire le sacrifice pen important du territoire qu' on lui demande, ren- 
dre libre la navigation du fleuve, ouvrir son port a nos niarchands, encourager notre 
commerce, et alors le produit de ses douanes a la Nouvelles Orleans lui rendroit plus que 
tout le reste de la Louisianne. Les Americains, qui auroient interet a bien vivre avec 
elle respecteroient ses possessions de I'Ouest, et pour les mettre hors d'insulte, il faudroit 
qu' elle y animat parmi ses sujets, 1' amour de 1' agriculture, du commerce, des arts, seuls 
moyens d'y former une population capable de servir de barriere entre une nation entre- 
prenante et ses mines. J'ai dit ce qu' il faudroit que I'Espagne fit, et ce que je sais 
bien quelle ne fera pas. Dans cet ordie des clioses couroit-on un risque de se tromper 
en pensant que la Louisianne peut redevenir un objel serieux d'attention pour la 
France ? Le sort de ce beau pais sous le gouvernement Francois a ete assez remarqua- 
ble. L'indifference qui I'a fait sacrifier a une puissance etrangere n'est nee que de 
I'opinion trop brilliante que la nation en avoit concise dans les premieres tentatives 
d'etablissements. On le croyoit rempli des mines d'or et d' argent, et quand cet erreur 
disparite on a cru qu' il n'etoit plus bon a rien. La compagnie d'Occident avoit 
exalte toutes les imaginations, par I'esperance des profits immenses, qu'elles devroient 
faire sur son commerce de pelleteries. Mais la vraie richesse de ces vastes et delici- 
euses contrees ne s'etoit attire un seul regard. Tous les etablissements faits sur le 
Missisippi avoient pour but unique le commerce. L' agriculture y a toujours ete, et y 
reste encore dans un etat d'avillissement, qui doit faire genir tout homme ami de 
I'humanite. Les habitants de cinq villages d'lllinois foulent avec dedain le plus riche 
terrain de I'univers, et c'est de nous qu'ils recoivent tous les besoins de la vie. A la 
vue de leurs culture on hesite a determiner lequel de ces deux sentiments ils meritent le 
plus, I'indignation ou le mepris. Les Francois ni les Espagnols n'ont jamais defriche 
un arpent de terre au Natches. Et les Americains sous le gouvernement des derniers 
y ont aujourdhui trois mille fermes de quatre cents arpents chacune, lesquelles fournis- 
sent la majeure partie de consommation de la Nouvelle-Orleans. A quelque distance du 
Missisippi et sur les branches navigables de ce fleuve les Mathelocks, les Apalousees, les 
Attacapas, ne font que languir sans augmenter, malgre qu' elles soient au centre d' une 
plaine de cent cinquante miles de profondeur sur six cents de front, melangee uniforme- 
ment des prairies naturelles fort etendues, des forets et des terres labourables, dont la 
richesse egale peut etre tout ce qu'il y a sur le globe. Les causes de cetle lethargie 
sont assez apparentes. Je suis convaincu que la Louisianne est tres a charge de I'Es- 
pagne, et qu'elle n'en retire pas a beaueoup pres ce qui lui en coute pour les frais de 
Gouvernement, et pour les differentes garrisons qu' elle y entretient. Si elle y attache 
quelque importance ce n'est peut etre que parce qu'elle la regarde comme un boule- 
vard pour ses possessions dans le Nouveaux Mexique. Mais assurement elle se fait illu- 
sion a cet egard. Je ne saurois me refuser a I'idee qu'il pourroit et devroit lui convenir, 
d'abandonner absolument I'une et I'autre rive du Missisippi, et de reculer ses frontieres 
jusque aux montagnes, pourvu qu'elle fut assuree que les Americains ne passeroient 
pas ce fleuve. Le moyen qui nous paroit devoir le plus indubitablement remplir cet 
objet et qui seroit le plus agreable a I'Amerique, c'est que I'Espagne retrocede a la 
France ces anciennes possessions dans la Lo.uisianne, et que celle-ci s'engage vis-a-vis 
de la premiere a ne jamais permettre qu'aucune autre puissance forme des etablisse- 
ments a rOuest du Missisippi. Et qu'on ne crois pas qu'il sera besoin d'une grande 



252 Appendix. 



force pourfaire observer cet arrangement. Si les Americains decouvrent qu'on est deter- 
mine a leurs oter toutes esperances de faire leur commerce, on doit s'attendre sans doute 
que le ressentiment et le desespoir les porteront a des actes de violence; si au contraire 
on leur offre des facilites, leur interet nieme, le plus grand de tons les interets, celui de 
leur existence commerciale, repond de leur fidelite a remplir les conditions du contrat 
qu'ils auront souscrit. En supposaiit meme, qu'un jour Tharmonie qui subsiste entre 
la France et les Etats Unis, vint a etre troublee par des evenements qu'une complica- 
tion des hazards politique peut amener, une pareille rupture ne pourroit jamais affecter 
les liaisons establis entre le pais de I'Ouest et la Nouvelle-Orleans. Pour s'en con- 
vaincre on n'a qu'a examiner avec un peu d'attention I'emplacement qu'ils occupent 
sur notre partie du Continent. Separes des treize Etats Unis par une chaine de hau- 
tes Montagnes qui interdit toute communication avec eux et avec I'ocean Atlantique 
n'ayant absolument aucun interet commun dans leur commerce maritime, dans leurs 
pecheries, dans les alliances qu'ils peuvent faire, ou les guerres qu'ils peuvent avoir, 
ne devant etre comme des Europeens que par le Golfe du Mexique. Les habitants de 
ces nouvelles regions voyent qu'il ne peut leur convenir de contribuer longtemps au 
support d'une confederation dont le succes ne contribuera Hen a leur pro?perite, dont 
les desastres ne peuvent etre sent! par eux, qui ne peut les seconrir dans leur danger, ni 
les aider dans leurs besoins. lis voyent, que les interests des deux contrees ont comme 
leurs eaux un cour diametralement oppose. Ces deux grande sections de I'Amerique 
ne peuvent rester adherents I'une a I'autre. Elles serout habites par des hommes qui 
parlent la meme langue, mais ce ne sera pas longtemps le meme peuple. L'unite est 
rompue par les montgagnes. Ceux d'un decacherchent un nouvel appui, et ils offrent a 
la puissance qui les accueillera, des avantages qui ne tarderont pas a effacer ceux que 
I'Amerique anjourdhui connue a pu promettre. On peut les embrasser d'un coup d'oeil 
des Apalaches aux Montagnes du Nouveau Mexique, et des lacs du Canada a I'embou- 
chure du Missisippi. Voila un zone du globe capable de contenir cinquante millions 
d'habitants, situee dans une plaine continue, renfermee dans la meme enceinte, dont toutes 
les parties ont entre elle une liaison in time, un point commun et indivisible de commerce, 
et de navigation. Peu d'annees vont y faire eclore une politique nouvelle et c'est une 
peuplade qu'on n'appercoit pas encoi-e, qui en couve le germe. Elle a besoin d'un pro- 
tecteur, le premier qui lui tendra le bras aura fait la plus grande acquisition, que I'on 
puisse ambitioner dans le Nouveau Monde. Heureuse ma patrie si elle ne laisse pas 
echapper ce moment, un de ceux ne se presente pas deux fois. Mais que lusage en fera 
-t-elle? Maitresse de la Nouvelle-Orleans, si elle ferme son port a ses colonies, elle 
retardera leur aggrandissement, c'est-a-dire, qu'elle retiendra sur leur ancien sol plus- 
ieurs millions de consoramateurs, qui y sont approvisionnes par toutes les nations de 
I'Europe. Au lieu que si elle leur permet de porter leur denrees a la Nouvelle-Orleans 
et d'en rapporter leur besoins d'ici elle fera seule la moitie du commerce du continent, 
et quand elle laissera a leur niarchands la liberte d'aller ou ils voudroient, et de vendre 
et acheter ou bon leur sembleroit, elle auroit encore la meilleure part a ce traffic, et en 
tout evenement ses douanes rapporteraient toujours beaucoup. En adoptant une con- 
duite qui ne donne pas d'ombrage, en laissant a ses allies autant de liberte dans leur 
commerce que sa propre conservation peut permettre, la Nouvelle-Orleans ne tardera 
pas a devenir ce que la nature I'a destinee a etre un jour, la premiere ville commercante 



Appendix. 253 

du monde. Rien ne porte a craindre que les Americains Occidentaux puissent desirer 
de changer cet oidie des choses. Leur interet ne doit pas leur en faire n'aitre I'envie, 
mais, s'ils I'avoient, une impuissance que tous les siecles ne sauraient vaincre ne leur en 
laissera jamais les moyens. II faut une force navale pour s'emparer du Missisipi et as- 
surer un commerce libre par son embouchure. Tout cet immense pais n'a pas une autre 
sortie. Aucune de ses rivieres n'admet d'y construire de gros batiments ; nous ne sau- 
rions y avoir un seul batteau de force; fussions nous jamais en etat de chasser de la 
Nouvelle-Orleans la puissance qui en serait maitresse, a quoi cela menera-t-il tant que 
nous ne pouvions sortir du fleuve? Son embouchure est la clef de I'Occident. Nul^ne 
peut la tourner qu'une puissance maritime. Loin done que nous devions songer a 
rompre cette barriere aussi longtemps qu'elle servira a nous proteger, et non pas a nous 
tenir dans loppression. Nous ne saurions desirer rien de plus heureux que de le voir 
dans les mains d'un allie juste, modere et puissant, puisqu'il est evident qu'abandonne 
a nous meme nous devons etre eternellement dans I'impossibilite d'avoir une marine ca- 
pable de faire respecter notre pavilion dans le Golfe. Ceux qui connalssent I'homme ne 
seront pas arretes non plus par la consideration du genre turbulent, ambitieux, iuquiet 
que Ton connait a ce peuple. Ilapporte ces qualites d'Europe, mais ils ne sont pas in- 
delibles. Ce sont les guerres continuelles, les dissentions civiles de leur ancienne pa- 
trie, I'habitude de parcourir toutes les mers, de braver tous les elements, qui leurs ont 
donne de I'energie. Aucune de ces causes ne peut guere agir sur des cultivateur pai- 
sible que nul ennemi environne. Relegues dans I'interieure des terres, vivant dans une 
securite, trop peut opulent pour eprouver aucunes des passions violentes qui dechirent 
I'ame trop au dessus de la pauvrete pour ne pas aimer I'ordre, le repos et des jouis- 
sances tranquilles. Apres ce qui a ete dit ci-devant du peut d'avantage que le com- 
merce de France a retire de ses liaisons avec I'Amerique Septentrionale on pourra etre 
tenter de conciure que le pais occidental ne promet rien de plus flatteur. Le moindre 
degre de reflection, eclaircie par la connoissance la plus superficielle du local, suffira 
pour demontrer la faussete d'un pareil analogue. Au rivage de la mer les marchands 
Francois sont en concurrence avec toute I'Europe, dans le Missisippi il depend d'eux de 
rendre leur monopole aussi exclusif qu'ils le voudront, quoique s'ils sont sages, ils s'en 
garderont bien. Le tabac est presque le seul article de valeur qu'ils puissent tirer de 
I'Est, et les autre nations viennent comme eux le chercher directement. Des que le Mis- 
sisippi sera ouvert la culture de cette plante cessera dans les deux Etats qui la pro- 
duisent oujourd'hui, et les negociants Francois deviendront les fournissants de I'Europe, 
outre cet avantage les pais occidentaux leur fourniront encore trois excellents produits, 
dans la plus grande abondance : le clianvre, le lin et la laine. La ils ont a combattre 
I'empire de I'habitude, la force des anciennes connexions, lasuperiorite de I'air, les col- 
lisions de I'industrie. Ici ils regneront sur le gout meme, ils n'auront rien a craindre 
de la rivalite. Quand les Anglais rempliroient des marchandises les postes voisines, 
qu'ils occupent sur les lacs, ce seroit sans espoir de les vendre. Car aucune des denrees 
de cette contree n'est de nature a supporter les frais enormes qu'occasioneroit le trans- 
port par des rivieres qu'il faut remonter si loin outre plusieurs postage par terre. En 
reprenant possession de la Louisiane la France y retrouvera trenle mille de ses anciens 
sujets, qui lui sont toujours attaches, et pour qui ce jour sera le plus beau de leur vie. 
Ce nombre sera bientot augmente de tous les Francois du Wabash et de cette multitude 



2 54 Appendix. 

des Canadiens qui pour s'etie declares trop ouvertement en faveur des Americains pen- 
dant la derniere guerre se voyent aujourd'hui sans patrie. Ces peuples naturellement 
laborieux mais aneantis par le decouragement emuleront bientot leur voisins, a I'ex- 
emple de qui ils devront le gout et la connoissance des details des actes paisibles, qui 
font la richesse des Etats. C'est principalement vers la culture des terres qu'il faudra 
diriger. Le commerce avec les sauvages n'a que trop d'attrait pour eux, ils y ont plus 
besoin de frein que de I'aiguillon. Mais de toutes les cultures dont cette colonic est 
susceptible, celle qui seroit en meme temps plus profitable aux colons, et plus avanta- 
geux a la mere patrie serait I'education des troupeaux, pourvu qu'on s'attache et qu'on 
reussit a y avoir des laines assez belles pour valoir la peine d'etre exportees; et je crois 
qu'on pourroit y esperer un succes complet. S'il est impossible de conjecturer juste sur 
ce point avant I'experience, il est du moins hors du doute que la colonie pent les four- 
nir a tres bas prix, puisqu'elle peut sans frais multiplier a I'infini les bergeries sur un 
territoire de plus de dix raille lieues quarres, qui n'est qu'une prairie continuelle. 

D. 
Endorsed: In Lord Dorchester's Dup'l. No. 112. Secret. 7tli of June, 1789. 



l^o. VIII. 

[See Text, Page 190.] 

Enclosure from Dorchester to Sydney, 27th August, 1789. (From Canadian .\rchives, Colonial 
/ Office Records, Series Q, Vol. XLII, p. S3.) 

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE COLONY OF KENTUCKY. 

Louisville is a town opposite to the falls of the Ohio, upon the south shore, very 
handsomely situated, containing about two hundred houses, and in the vicinity of the 
place are quarries of rough marble of an excellent quality for building. 

On the opposite side of the river, at the foot of the falls, stands Clarksville, a small 
town. 

From the falls to the confluence of the Ohio with the Mississippi, upwards of four 
hundred miles, the current is gentle and the winds, during the summer months, south 
or southwesterly, so that vessels of considerable burthen can and will in future sail up 
to the foot of the falls. At this place is already established a warehouse for the recep- 
tion and inspection of tobacco, and inspectors are appointed by the Legislature. The 
distance from Louisville, the most westerly settlement of Kentucky, to Limestone, the 
most easterly, is, by the rout of Danville, about one hundred and ninety miles, travel- 
ing on a large and very good carriage road, both sides of which, generally speaking, 
are tolerably inhabited, & in some places good improvements ; in other parts, from the 
tenure of large military grants and particular exposure to the incursions of the Savages, 
the inhabitants are scattered. 

Danville, the seat of the convention, and considered at present as the capital, is sit- 
uated in the interior country, upwards of eighty miles east of the Ohio, upon a small 
branch of Elkhorn river, in a part well inhabited and improved. It contains upwards 
of one hundred and fifty houses, and some tolerable good buildings. 



Appendix. 255 



Lexington is situated upon a small stream of the same river, and contains more than 
two hundred houses, and a handsome Court-house built of Limestone. 

Bourbon is a small town, thirty miles from Lexington, and Washington, a long, strag- 
gling place in one street, on each side of the great road, and within five miles of Lime- 
stone. 

Limestone is upon the south side of the Ohio, about five hundred miles below Pitts- 
burg, and is the general landing place of all emigrants from the Atlantic States, from 
whence they proceed into the interior country, and disperse either to the right or left 
of this great state road to form their improvements, having descended with the current 
of the Ohio in large fl:it bottomed boats, which they provide at Redstone upon the Monan- 
ghehela, or at Pittsburgh, where many boat yards are erected for this express purpose. 

Exclusive of these towns upon the great road, there is Harndstoxvn, upon the Salt 
river, about fifty or sixty miles from the Ohio, containing near one hundred houses; 
Leestomn, on Chaplain's fork, of nearly the same size,* and Boonsburg, upon Red river, 
comprehending upwards of one hundred and twenty houses. 

Kentucky, as an appendage of Virginia, was thrown into three great Counties, Jef- 
ferson, Favette, and Lincoln, and latterly, it is understood, two more have been laid off 
by act of Assembly. 

Kentucky in general appears to be a limestone soil, excellently watered, abounding 
with cane, which affords nourishment for their numerous cattle during a short winter, 
and saline springs, which by .simple evaporation plentifully supply the country with 
salt. The cultivated productions are Indian corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, &c., &c., and 
tobacco, which latter article is raised in considerable quantities by slaves, as practised in 
Virginia, and latterly, by particular permission, is sent down to New Orleans. 

The last Census oK \}as people, taken by authority in 1788, amounted to sixty-two 
thousand souls, including a much greater proportion of adult males than is to be looked 
in a common estimation of this nature, to which great additions have been since made, 
the writer having seen near five hundred persons at Limestone, who had just landed or 
arrived there in the course of two days, the time of his staj, besides a constant influx 
of families he met travelling on the high road. 

The Militia of the country is numerous, it being supposed that upon any emergency 
ten thousand men might be easily raised. Two Troops of horse are enrolled every six 
months, composed of fifty men, who patrole the frontiers of the settlement towards the 
Ohio to prevent Indian depredations. Thi^ militia, regulated by the laws of Virginia and 
the occasional organization of the convention, have often penetrated the Indian country, 
and in the year 17S3 fifteen hundred mounted militia, under the command of Colonel 
Logan, made a sudden incursion as far as the sources of the Miamis River, and burnt 
all the Shawnee towns, which brought them within three days march of Detroit. 

The Inhabitants of Kentucky are composed of men wlio fled from the horrors of 
civil war during the late contention, of a great number of military people who were 
disbanded from the American Army, of families from the Middle and Southern States, 
and latterly by a number of emigrants from the North of Ireland, so that this settle- 
ment may be said to consist of soldiers and husbandmen. 

The Convention a{ Kentucky, whose authority, delegated from the people, is to con- 
tinue until the year 1790, is composed of a number of representatives from the Coun- 



256 Appendix. 



ties. The following are the leading members, viz: Colonel George Muter, Chief Justice, 
with a Salary, from Virginia, Major General Scott, Brigadier General Wilkinson, Colonel 
Levi Todd, Colonel Robert Todd, Colonel Robert Johnson, Colonel Robert Patterson, 
Colonel Marshall, Secretary of the Land Office, and Colonel Campbell. It is unneces- 
sary to mention the counties in which they reside, as they are universally known in that 
country. 

The Congressional established Troops, under the command of Colonel and Brigadier 
General Harmar, are supposed to consist of eight hundred men, comprehending two 
companies of Artillery attached to this corps, and they are in garrison from Venango 
in the east, on the northwest of the Ohio, to Post St. Vincennes on the Ouabache, in 
the west, in the following manner, viz: Brigadier General llarmar, at Fort Harmar, 
on the Muskingum, with five companies ; Major Willis at the Falls of the Ohio, with 
three companies; Major Dougherty at Post St. Vincennes, with four companies, and 
Captain Uoyle at Venango, with two companies. The other two companies cover the 
new establishment commenced at the mouth of the Great Miamis or Rocky river, 
under Judge Synims, where they occupy a redoubt at the forks of Great Beaver creek, 
the name of the commanding officer not known at present. 

They are supposed not to be defective in Field pieces, and have spare Iron Ordnance 
at Pittsburg and Fort Harraan. 

People of property in the Western frontiers of Virginia atid Pennsylvania must gen- 
erally be interested in the fate of Kentucky, but until the effects of a correspondence, 
carried on by a private committee, between these settlements, are better known, many 
names of l/ie leading men of that description can not be given. Brigadier General 
Nevill, Colonel John Stephenson, of Pennsylvania, and Major General Lincoln, of the 
New Colony at Muskingum, and even Judge Symms, at the Great Miamis, are of 
opinion that their interest is inseparably connected with Kentucky. 

The Trade of this country is now confined to the internal barter of its inhabitants 
and the supply of the new emigrants, and lately to the exportation of flour and tobacco 
by special permits to New Orleans, and this intercourse will probably be increased 
through the medium of the colony establishing at New Madrid on the west shore of 
the Mississippi, opposite to the mouth of the Ohio, under the direction of Mr. Morgan. 

The continual emigration from the Atlantic States, flowing from various causes, the 
result of the late revolutional war, must suddenly form very great and extensive colonies 
upon the Ohio, its lateral branches, and the Mississippi, which will eventually open a 
field for a more extensive commerce than what the northern parts of .America have yet 
aff'orded, and consequently New Orleans must become, at no distant period, the great 
emporium of North America, and therefore highly worthy of the marked attention of 
the British Government as a commercial and manufacturing kingdom. 

Lacassang & Co., at Louisville, and Tardezvous, at Danville, are Mercantile houses of 
note, in the interest of France. The latter carried on a tiade from Bourdeaux to the 
States during the war, and are supposed once to have been prisoners at Halifax. D. 

Endorsed: Observations upon the Colony of Kentucky. In Lord Dorchester's to 
Lord Sydney, No. 126, of 27th August, 1789. 



Appendix. 257 



No. IX. 

PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION OF NOVEMBER, 1788. 

[See Text, Page 202.] 

At a Convention begun and held for the District of Kentucky at the Court-house in 
Danville, in the County of Mercer, on Monday, the third day of November, in the year 
of our Lord One Thousand seven hundred and Eighty-eight. On which day, being the 
day appointed by a resolution of a Convention held for the said District on the 31st 
day of July last past, several members appeared and took their seals; but the num- 
ber not being sufficient to proceed to business, the Convention adjourned till To-morrow, 
twelve of the Clock. 

Tuesday, the 4TH day of November, 1788. 
The Convention met according to adjournment. A majority of the members ap- 
peared and took their seats. The Honorable Samuel McDowell was unanimously 
elected President. Ordered that Mr. Thomas Todd be appointed Clerk to this Con- 
vention. Ordered that a Committee of Privileges and Elections be appointed. And a 
Committee was appointed, of Mr. Greenup, Mr. Morrison, Mr. Muter, Mr. Logan, Mr. 
Taylor, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Irvine, who are to examine the Certificates of Election 
from the different Counties in this District, and make return thereon. Ordered, That 
the rules and regulations of the last Convention be the rules and regulations for the 
Government of this Convention. Resolved, That this Convention will To-morrow 
resolve itself into a Committee of the whole Convention to take into Consideration the 
present state of the District. Sundry papers and resolutions of the Congress of the 
United States, addressed to Samuel McDowell, Esquire, late President of the Conven- 
tion in Kentucky, was ordered to lie on the Clerk's Table. The Convention then 
adjourned untill To-morrow, Twelve of the Clock. 

Wednesday, the 5TH day of November, 1788. 

The Convention met according to adjournment. Several other members appeared 
and took their seats. 

Ordered, That the papers and Resolutions of Congress, the Resolves of the Con- 
vention passed on the 22nd day of September, 1787, relative to a separation of this 
District from the State of Virginia together with the address from the Convention to 
Congress be referred to a Committee of the whole Convention. 

Resolved, That this Convention do now resolve itself into a Committee of the whole 
Convention on the state of the District. 

Mr. Wilkinson was elected to the Chair. 

After some time spent therein Mr. President resumed the Chair, and the Chairman 
reported that the Committee had taken into consideration the matters to them referred, 
but not having time to go thro' the same, desire leave to sit again to-day, which was 
granted. 

33 



258 Appendix. 

Ordered, That the resolution of the Convention of the 31st day of July, 1788, 
recommending the Election of & giving powers to this Convention, be referred to a 
Committee of the whole, which is to sit to-day. 

Resolved, That this Convention do now again resolve into a Committee of the 
Whole on the matters to them referred. Mr. Wilkinson again Elected to the Chair. 
After some time spent therein Mr. President resumed the Chair, and the Chairman re- 
ported that the Committee had taken into consideration the matters to them referred, 
and had come to a resolution thereon which he was ready to report. Ordered, That 
the said resolution do lie on the Clerk's table. Ordered, That it be a standing rule of 
this Convention that the Convention do resolve itself into a Committee of the whole 
Convention from day to day to take into consideration the present state of the District. 

Two petitions, one from the County of Mercer, and the other from the County of 
Madison, praying that a manly and spirited address be sent to Congress to obtain the 
Navigation of tlie River Mississippi, was read and ordered to be referred to a Commit- 
tee of the whole Convention. Resolved, That this Convention do now again resolve 
itself into a Committee of the whole to take into consideration the matters to them re- 
ferred. 

Mr. Wilkinson was again elected to the Chair. After some time spent therein, Mr. 
President resumed the Chair, and the Chairman reported that the Committee of the 
whole Convention had taken into consideration the matters to them referred, and had 
come to a resolution thereon which he was ready to report. Ordered, That the said 
resolution do lie on the Table. Ordered, That the resolution for preparing an Address 
to the Assembly of Virginia be now read, & then the same was read, amended, and 
agreed to as follows, viz : 

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to draw up a decent and respectful ad- 
dress to the Assembly of Virginia for obtaining an Independence of the District of 
Kentucky agreeable to the late resolution and recommendation of Congress, and that 
they prepare and report the same to the Convention To-morrow. And a Committee 
was appointed of Mr. Edwards, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Muter, Mr. Jouitt, Mr. AUin, and 
Mr. Wilkinson. The Convention then adjourned till To-morrow, Twelve of the Clock. 

Thursday, the 6th day of November, 17S8. 

The Convention met according to adjournment. Ordered, That the resolution re- 
ported yesterday from the Committee of the whole, upon the petitions from the Counties 
of Madison and Mercer, be now read, and the same, being read, was ordered to be recom- 
mitted to a Committee of the whole Convention. Resolved, That this Convention do 
now resolve itself into a Committee of the whole on the said resolution. Mr. Innes 
was elected to the Chair. And after some time spent therein, Mr. President resumed 
the Chair, and the Chairman reported that the Committee of the whole had taken into 
consideration the matter referred to them and had come to a resolution thereon, which 
he read in his place and delivered the same in at the Table, where it was again twice 
read and agreed to as follows, viz: 

Resolved, as the Opinion of this Committee, that the Petitions from the Counties of 
Madison and Mercer, praying this Convention to prefer an Address to Congress for pro- 



Appendix. 259 



curing the navigation of the river Mississippi are reasonable, and that a decent and 
respectful address t)e prepared, requesting Congress to take immediate and effective 
measures for procuring the navigation of the said river, agreeable to the prayer of the 
said Petitions. 

Ordered, That a Committee be appointed to prepare the said Address ; and a 
Committee was appointed of Mr. Innes, Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Muter, Mr. 
Brown, Mr. Sebastian, and Mr. Morrison. 

Mr. Edwards, from the Committee appointed to draw up an Address to the Assembly 
of Virginia for obtaining the independence of the District of Kentucky, reported that 
the Committee had taken the matter into consideration and prepared an Address, which 
he read in his place, and then delivered the same in at the table, where it was again 
read, and an amendment thereto proposed. Ordered, That the said address, together 
with the amendment, do lie on the Talile. 

A motion was made by Mr. Brown for the Convention to come to the following reso- 
lution, viz: 

Resolved, That it is the wish and interest of the good people of this District to 
separate from the State of Virginia, and that the same be erected into an Independent 
member of the Federal Union. 

Ordered, That the said resolution do lie on the Table. The Convention then ad- 
journed till To-morrow, Twelve of the Clock. 

Friday, the 7th day of November, 1788. 

The Convention met according to adjournment. 

A Letter from James Speed addressed to the President Convention was read. 
Ordered that the same do lie on the Table. The Convention adjourned till To-mor- 
row morning. Twelve of the Clock. 

Saturday, the 8th day of November, 1788. 

The Convention met according to Adjournment. 

A motion was made by Mr. Wilkinson for the Convention to come to the following 
resolution, which was read and agreed to as follows, viz: 

Whereas, it is the solemn duty, so it is the ardent desire of this Convention, to pur- 
sue such measures as may promote the Interests and meet the approbation of their 
Constituents ; but the discordant opinions which at present divide the good people they 
represent, render it doubtful whether they can adopt any plan which will embrace the 
opinions of all, or even secure the support of a majority. In this state of embarrass- 
ment — perplext with doubts and surrounded by difficulties — in order to avoid error 
and to attain truth, to remove the Jealousies which have infected society, and to restore 
that spirit of harmony and concord on which the prosperity of all depends. They deem 
it most eligible to address their Constituents on the momentous occasion. Therefore, 

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to draft an address to the good people of 
the District, setting forth the principles and motives from which this Convention act ; 
representing to them their true situation, urging the necessity of union, concord, and 
mutual concession, and solemnly calling upon them to furnish this Convention, at their 



26o Appendix. 



next session, with instructions in what manner to proceed on the important subject to 
them submitted. 

And a Committee was appointed, of Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Innes, Mr. Jouitt, Mr. 
Muter, Mr. Sebastian, Mr. AUin, and Mr. Caldwell. Resolved, That when this Conven- 
tion doth adjourn it will adjourn until Monday morning, Seven of the Clock. Ordered, 
That the address to the Assembly of Virginia be now taken up and read, and the same 
was read, amended, and referred to a Committee of the whole. The Convention then 
adjourned till Monday, Seven of the Clock. 

Monday, the ioth day of November, 178S. 

The Convention met according to Adjournment. 

Mr. Wilkinson, from the Committee appointed to draught an Address to Congress, 
requesting immediate and effective measures to be taken to obtain the Navigation of 
the River Mississippi, reported that the Committee had taken the matter into consider- 
ation and prepared an address, which he read in his place, and then delivered the same 
in at the Clerk's Table, where it was again twice read and agreed to as follows, viz : 

To the United States in Congress Assembled : 

The people of Kentucky in Convention assembled, as free men, as Citizens, and as a 
part of the American Republic, beg leave by this Humble petition to state their rights 
and call for protection in the enjoyment of them. 

Fathers, Fellow Citizens, and Guardians of our rights : As we address you by the 
endearing appellation of Fathers, we rely on your paternal affection to hear us ; we rely 
on your Justice as men and citizens to attend to the wrongs done to men and Citizens, 
and as a People recognized by the solemn Acts of the Union, we look for protection to 
the Federal Head. 

When the peace had secured to America that sovereignty and Independence for 
which she had so nobly contended, we could not retire with our Atlantic friends to 
enjoy in ease the blessings of freedom. Many of us had expended in the struggle for 
our country's Rights that property which would have enabled us to possess a compe- 
tence with our Liberty. On the western waters the Commonwealth of Virginia pos- 
sessed a fertile but uninhabited Wild. In this Wilderness we sought, after having pro- 
cured Liberty for our posterity, to provide for their support. Inured to hardships by a 
long Warfare, we ventured into almost impenetrable forests; without bread or domestic 
Cattle we depended on the Casual supplies afforded by the chace. Hunger was our 
familiar attendant, and even our un.savory meals were made upon the wet surface of the 
earth with the cloud deformed Canopy for our covering. Tho' forced to pierce the 
thicket it was not in safety we trod. The wiley savage thirsted for blood, lurked in 
our paths and seized the insuspecting Hunter. Whilst we lamented the loss of a 
friend, a Brother, a Father, a Wife, a Child, became a Victim to the Barbarian Toma- 
hawk ; instead of consolation a new and greater misfortune deadened the sense of 
former afflictions. From the Union we receive no support, but we impeach not their 
Justice. 

Ineffectual treaties, often renewed, and as often broken by the Savage Nations, 
served only to furnish them with the means of our destruction. But no human cause 



Appendix. 2 6 1 

could controul that providence which had destined this Western Country to the seat 
of a Civilized and happy people. The period of its accomplishment was distant, but it 
advanced with rapid and incredible strides. We derived strength from our falls and 
numbers from our losses. The unparalleled fertility of our soil made grateful returns, 
far disproportioned to the slight labour which our safety would permit us to bestow. 
Our fields and herds afford us not only sufficient support for ourselves, but also for the 
Emigrants who annually double our numbers, and even a surplus still remains for ex- 
portation. This surplus would be far greater did not a narrow policy shut up our navi- 
gation and discourage our industry. In this situation we call for your attention, wc 
beg you to trace the Mississippi from the Ocean, survey the innumerable Rivers which 
water your Western Territory and pay their tribute to its greatness, examine the lux- 
uriant soil which those Rivers traverse. Then we ask, can the God of Wisdom and 
Nature have created that vast country in vain? Was it for nothing that he blest it 
with a fertility almost incredible? Did he not provide those great streams which empty 
into the Mississippi, and by it communicate with the Atlantic, that other nations and 
climes might enjoy with us the blessings of our fruitful soil ? View the Country, and 
you will answer for yourselves. But can the presumptuous madness of man imagine 
policy inconsistent with the immense designs of the Deity? 

Americans can not. As it (is) the natural right of the Inhabitants of this Country 
to navigate the Mississippi, so they have also the right derived from treaties and national 
compacts. By the treaty of Peace, concluded in the year 1763, between the Crowns of 
Great Britain, France, and Spain, the free navigation of the River Mississippi was ascer- 
tained to Great Britain. The right thus ascertained was exercised by the subjects of 
that Crown until the peace of 1783, and conjointly with them by the Citizens of the 
United States. By the Treaty in which Great Britain acknowledged the Independence 
of the United States, she also ceded to them the free Navigation of the River Missis- 
sippi. It was a right naturally and essentially annexed to the possession of this 
Western Country. As such it was claimed by America, and it was upon that principle 
she obtained it. Yet the Court of Spain, who possess the Country at the mouth of the 
Mississippi, have obstructed your citizens in the enjoyment of that right. If policy is 
the motive which actuates political conduct, you will support us in this right, and 
thereby enable us to assist in the support of Government. If you will be really our 
fathers, stretch forth your hands to save us. If you would be worthy Guardians, defend 
our rights. We are a member that would exert every muscle to your service. Do not 
cut us off from your Body. By every tie of consanguinity and affection, by the remem- 
brance of the blood which we have mingled in the common cause, by a regard to Jus- 
tice and to policy we conjure you to procure our right. May your Councils be guided 
by wisdom and justice, and may your determinations be marked by decision and effect. 
Let not your beneficence be circumscribed by the Mountains which divide us. But let 
us feel that you are really our Fathers & assertors of Our Rights. Then you would 
secure the prayers of a people whose Gratitude would be as warm as their vindication 
of their Rights will be eternal. Then our connexions shall be perpetuated to the latest 
times, a Monument of your Justice and a Terror to your Enemies. 

Resolved, That the President of this Convention inclose the said address to the 
President of Congress, requesting him to lay the same before that august Body. 



262 Appendix. 



Mr. Wilkinson, from the Committee appointed to draught an address to the people 
of this District, reported that the Committee had taken the matter into consideration 
and prepared an address, which he read in his place, & then delivered in the same at the 
Clerk's Table, where it was again read and ordered to be recommitted to a Committee 
of the whole Convention. 

The Convention, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into a Committee 
of the whole to take into consideration the state of the District. Mr. Innes was elected 
to the Chair. 

After some time spent therein, the President resumed the Chair and the Chairman 
reported that the Committee had taken into Consideration the Address to the Assembly 
of Virginia and made an amendment thereto, which he read in his place, and then de- 
livered in the same at the Clerk's Table, where it was again twice read and again 
amended, and agreed to nemini Contradicente, as follows, to-wit : 

To the Hoti^ble ihg General Assembly for the Comniotiwealth of Vir^nia : 

Gentleme.n : The Representatives of the good people inhabiting the several Coun- 
ties composing the District of Kentucky in Convention met, beg leave again to address 
you on the great and important subject of their separation from the parent state and 
being made a member of the Federal Union. 

To repeat the Causes which impel the inhabitants of this District to continue their 
application for a separation will, in our Opinion, be unnecessary ; they have been gener- 
ously acknowledged and patronized in former Assemblies, and met the approbation of 
that august Body, whose consent was necessary towards the final accomplishment of 
this desirable object, and who resolved that the measure was expedient and necessary, 
but which from their peculiar situation they were inadequate to decide on. 

As happiness was the object which first dictated the application for a separation, so 
it has continued to be the ruling principle in directing the good people of Kentucky to 
that great end, upon Constitutional terms, and they conceive the longer that measure is 
delayed the more they will be exposed to the merciless Savage or (which is greatly to 
be feared) Anarchy, with all the concomitant evils attending thereon. 

Being fully impressed with these ideas, justified by frequent examples, we conceive 
it our duty as free men, from the regard we owe to our constituents, & being encouraged 
by the Resolutions of Congress, again to apply to your Honorable Body praying that an 
act may pass at the present Session for enabling the good people of the Kentucky Dis- 
trict to obtain an independent Government and be admitted into the confederation as a 
Member of the Federal Union, upon such terms and conditions as to you may appear 
just and equitable ; and that you transmit such Act to the President of this Convention 
with all convenient dispatch, in order for our consideration and the final completion of 
this business ; this we are emboldened to ask, as many of the Causes which produced 
former restrictions do not now exist. 

Firmly relying on the justice and liberality of your Honorable House so often ex- 
perienced, and which we are ever bound to acknowledge. 

We again solicit the friendly interposition of the parent State with the Congress of 
the United States for a speedy admission of the District into the Federal Union, and 
also to urge that honorable Body in the most express terms to take effectual measures 



Appendix. 263 



for procuring to tlie Inhabitants of this District the free Navigation of the River Mis- 
sissippi, without which the situation of a large part of the community will be wretched 
and miserable, and may be the source of future evils. 

Ordered, that the President sign and the Clerk attest the said address, and that the 
same be inclosed by the President lo the Speaker of the House of Delegates. 

Resolved, That this Convention highly approve the Address presented by Gen'l 
James Wilkinson to the Governor and Intendant of Louisiana, and that the President 
be requested to present him the thanks of the Convention for the regard which he 
therein manifested for the Interest of the Western Country. 

Resolved, That when this Convention doth adjourn, it will adjourn to the first 
iMonday in -August next. 

Resolved, That the President of this Convention shall, during the recess thereof, 
with the advice of three or at the request of five Members, call a Convention, and in 
case of death, removal, or other disability of the President, any si.\ members shall have 
power to call a meeting of the said Convention. 

Ordered, That the Printer of the Kentucky Gazette be requested to publish the pro- 
ceeding of this Convention. 

The Convention then adjourned till the first Monday in August, next. 



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